#the first two also have religious elements about saints and gods and religious organizations i couldn't incorporate into the summary

[you-are-my-neverland]

*disclaimer: will this actually decide my fate? who knows, but it's fun to do it anyways.

option one: eight years ago, helena yang died, taking cian byrne with her and ending the horror. the red revolution won, and the doomsday prophecy was fulfilled. in the new commonwealth, all magic users are created equal, and people no longer have to suffer under the previous reign of terror.

but everything is not what it seems. there is a coffin in the woods that should never be opened. the white wraiths, a terrorist organization, haunt the streets, and a mysterious assassin called the magician eludes capture. and in the corners of the city, the rot slowly creeps back in...

in which helena yang was the chosen one, cian byrne was the antichrist, and when they died, they left legacies behind that have yet to be filled. alice yang, helena's younger sister, has made it her mission to hunt down the elusive magician, while kellan st. trinita grapples with being handed a legacy he doesn't know what to do with. and in the woods, someone wakes up...

my baby for the past couple of months. i'm 16k into a draft (and 26k into the planning doc lol), but i ran out of ordered plot so it's at a bit of a standstill despite the numerous ideas bouncing around in my head. definitely want to work on it, but it has a ton going on with character threads and plots, etc etc.

option two: in a world where the earth, sky, and sea were created from the bodies of gods in a sort of sacrifice-creation-by-dismemberment cosmogony, the 'hearts,' the power sources of the gods, are lost. whoever finds them will possess unimaginable power. the search for the sea goddess', nisa's, heart has led to a surge of piracy in the past decades - in a world where you become a pirate or live under them, many turn to the sea for better options and opportunities.

for arete, the quest for nisa's heart is not what she wants, but rather her destiny. daughter of a famous pirate captain, arete's skin bears a map that will lead her to the heart - if she can make it out to sea first. saved as a child by akane and her mother, then separated from akane later when pirates attack their village, the two promise to find one another. they travel different but parallel paths as akane struggles to survive and become the strongest warrior, and arete strives to find the pefect crew to become the strongest on the seas and free herself from her cursed destiny.

currently worldbuilding on this one, and there's sooo many interesting elements that i really like (and that are too hard to explain in a little summary so sorry if it reads confusing). the first little bit would be sort of a precursor to the actual story, taking place in the five-six years akane and arete are living together up until their violent separation. the present timeline would begin six years later, when arete starts to actually build her crew.

option three: set in a futuristic world where sensors - those born with certain enhanced senses - exist. saing knows who killed her brother, but with no body ever found, there is nothing she can do about it. her search for justice brings her to the seedy underground, where a vigilante assassin who goes by the name of foxglove is said to exact revenge for those who can convince them.

however, when one of the suspected culprits behind her brother's death - noe, the head of sca (sensor control agency) - falls into a coma before she or foxglove can get to him, the situation becomes more complicated. pilar, the successor to noe's position and his protegee, becomes embroiled in the mystery surrounding the man she considers her savior, and in the hunt for foxglove.

still very much planning this one, but it's been an idea in my head for a while, i just haven't had time to dedicate to it. there's so much i like about it, and a lot of scenes jumbled together, plus the basis for the plot is pretty much there. again, there's a lot more going on than i can succinctly explain in two paragraphs (this was my first time trying to summarize it), but basically there's human experimentation (always a hallmark of my wips i know), children who never escape the cycle of abuse, class differences, characters making bad decisions, and some really complicated relationships (hurt people hurt people and then help them hurt other people or something like that...)

option four: i work on all four at once and the only thing i draft completely are my history papers (the most unproductive option, because if i don't focus on one i won't really make serious headway into any of them. but in all honesty i'll be thinking about all of them during the month anyways so?)

[apenitentialprayer]

Bishop Hassan Dehqani-Tafti (bottom left), with his wife (Margaret, bottom right), and children (daughters Shirin, Sussanne, and Guli; son Bahram). Source. The Right Reverend was the first ethnic Persian to hold to office of Bishop of Iran in the Anglican Church. Dehqani-Tafti was technically a convert to the faith, but Christianity was an interwoven element in his life from before his birth. A gradual process, Dehqani-Tafti’s conversion highlights how blurred the lines Christianity and Islam can be. The outline of this relationship, given below the cut, is derived from the doctoral thesis of Sister Agnes Angela Wilkins, “From Islam to Christianity: A Study in the Life and Thought of Hassan Dehqani-Tafti and Jean-Mohammed Abd-El-Jalil in the Ongoing Search for a Deeper Understanding Between Christianity and Islam,” itself heavily reliant on the Right Reverend’s autobiography.

Childhood and Education

Hassan was the son of Mohammad, an illiterate but pious Muslim, and Sekinah. Sekinah, the daughter of a ‘Mulla Zahra,’ who received that honorary title for being able to read and recite the Qur’an, was a convert to Christianity. She had worked as a nurse with her mother in a missionary hospital, and it was there that she decided to be baptized. She also learned to read and write. After being married to Mohammad, she had three children, the middle one being Hassan. For the first five years of his life, Hassan, despite being raised a Shi‘a Muslim, remembers visits from the missionaries and singing songs with Biblical themes. This changed after his mother died, when he was about five years old. Before her death, Sekinah had requested that a friend of hers help raise at least one of her children to be Christian; this friend, a Ms. Kingdon, spent about a year and a half trying to convince his father to allow it. Ultimately, the boy was allowed, spending about a year in an otherwise all-girls school. There, he learned The Lord’s Prayer and memorized a few psalms, in addition to learning the Persian alphabet. Once he beeccame too old to stay at an all-girl’s school, the boy was sent to a missionary school in the former Safavid capital of Isfahan. It was there that he studied calligraphy, poetry, and Scriptures under the headmaster Jalil Aqa. Jalil Aqa was of Cossack descent, but had fully integrated into the Persian culture of his upbringing. As a young man, he was a Sunni Muslim, but with a strong mystical bend. He converted to Christianity through conversations about the relationship between Christ and the body of believers with missionaries at a hospital. Jalil Aqa represented a kind of Christianity that “digested the best of Persian culture, and then had baptized the whole into [itself].” Nonetheless, the young Hassan would oscillate between the Christianity of his schooling and the Islam of his family life. By the time he was 15, his father wavered over whether he should continue to allow his son to go to school, but ultimately allowed him to; by 17, Hassan had written a list of 77 resolutions he wished to follow; by 18, he was a baptized Christian. Many friends no longer spoke to him, he could no longer eat from the same bowl as his family, and contact with him made his loved ones ritually impure. His father described watching his son convert to Christianity as akin to having his hand cut off.

Crisis

The first few years after baptism were relatively easy. He attended the University of Tehran as a closeted Christian. Most students were more interested in secular philosophy and Western culture to really care anyway, but a couple people that he did tell were supportive or disgusted. When he had to join military service, he had to out himself, and was dismissed by his superior for being untrustworthy for having apostasized from Islam. Problems arose, however, when he considered ordination. His military service had given him a good salary, and his family -who also did not like the idea of the social suicide he would undergo as a pastor- attempted to convince him to remain there. Instead, the local missionaries encouraged him to go to Cambridge University, where he felt a loneliness he had never felt before. He began to resent God for his mother’s death, blame the missionaries for the widening gap between himself and his family, and even consider suicide. This crisis was resolved through forming a relationship with Bishop Stephen Neill, who seems to have taken on a fatherly role to him. Although they only met in person six times, the two would continue to correspond through letters. It is around this time that Hassan developed a strong attachment to the Book of Job, and felt a calling to a deeper sort of repentance, a total reorientation of his life. Though offered a job at Cambridge, he wanted to continue his ministry in his home country.

Returning to Iran

Though he was frequently visited by the Detective Bureau of Police, an frequently dealt with minor harassment, the early years of Hassan’s return were happy ones. In 1949 he was ordained a deacon in the Anglican Church (an organization whose theological leanings Kingdon did not approve of, though she was happy for him). In 1950, he was made a priest, and in 1952 he married the daughter of the current Bishop of Iran (Margaret, pictured above). In 1960, he was consecrated the Bishop of Iran. Hassan’s father died in 1970, and his attempt to attend the funeral only highlighted how large the rift between his family and himself had become. His brother did not want him there, and a group of mullahs refused to let him enter, forcing him to pray for his father outside the mosque. The growth that the Anglican Church in Iran would experience, including the establishment of more hospitals and programs to help make the blind community more self-sufficient, was reversed in the early weeks of the Revolution. Although the land that the hospitals were built on was waaf, a semi-sacred gift under Islamic law, they were seized by Revolutionaries after a senior priest was murdered. His house was ransacked, and threatening messages sent to his house. The anxiety and stress left him bedridden for three weeks. During this time, he decided that taqiyya, pretending to assimilate into the larger religious majority, could not be a strategy for the threatened Christian community: “Christ was almost ruthless about being and showing who you are.” Hassan found inspiration from the life of Saint Thomas Moore, an English Catholic who was killed for refusing to renounce his faith during the Anglican Reformation, and attributed his recovery to a “new infilling of the love of God.” If he were to be killed, then he would be killed; “The important thing is to continue God's work with utmost loyalty to the end.” This was a good attitude to have, because he was soon arrested and interrogated for access to a diocesan bank account. He was forced to stay in a yard where public executions by firing squad happened, he was brought to a revolutionary court, and was the victim of an assassination attempt - an attempt that ended with his wife being shot in the hand after she threw herself in front of him. The two were ultimately sent to Cyprus, with the hope of reuniting with their family. Unforunately, the situation in Iran became too much, and after his son was assassinated (an act that Hassan forgave the killers for), the family was permanently moved to England.

A Persian Christian

The nineteen year exile that lasted from 1979 to his death was very hard on Hassan. The Bishop of Iran was an Iranian who loved his country and his culture. In the early years of his bishopric, he had worked with thinkers like Kenneth Cragg in an attempt to reconcile his Islamic Persian heritage with his Christian faith. In his writings, Dehqani-Tafti wrote for a mixed Christian and Muslim audience. His largest influence in the formation of his faith was a man who did not see Christianity as something at odds with Persian culture. The name of Dehqani-Tafti’s memoir, The Unfolding Design of My World, is a reference to the Naqsh-i-Jahan (Design of the World) Square, a prominent landmark in his beloved Isfahan. His gravestone has a Persian translation of Ephesians 2:19 (“So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God”) engraved onto it. His pectoral cross has been returned to Iran, where it is displayed in the Isfahan church he spent so much time in.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

8th May >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 15:18-21 for Saturday, Fifth Week of Eastertide: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’.

Saturday, Fifth Week of Eastertide.

Gospel (Except USA)

John 15:18-21

The world hated me before it hated you.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice withdrew you from the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. But it will be on my account that they will do all this, because they do not know the one who sent me.’

Gospel (USA)

John 15:18-21

You do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”

Reflections (6)

(i) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

In today’s first reading, Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, gives us a strong sense of the early church being guided by the Holy Spirit. Paul and his companions travelled through the countryside of the Roman province of Galatia, having been told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in the Roman province of Asia, both provinces being in modern-day Turkey. The Spirit would not allow them to cross into the province of Bithynia either, so, instead, they came to the city of Troas, on the North West coast of modern-day Turkey. There Paul experienced the prompting of the Spirit once more in the form of a vision in which a person from Macedonia in Northern Greece called on Paul and his companions to come over and help them. Luke was showing that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church, especially the missionary journeys of Paul. We can be confident that the Holy Spirit continues to guide the church today. The church is not just a human organization, a kind of religious multi-national corporation. Yes, it has elements that are typical of any world-wide organization. It is a human institution. More fundamentally, however, the church is a spiritual reality. The risen Lord, through the Spirit, is present in the church, shaping it and guiding it. The church cannot be shaped by opinion polls. It can only be shaped by the Lord and his Spirit. Sometimes, as Jesus says in the gospel reading today, this will put the church into conflict with the prevailing culture, ‘if they persecuted me, they will persecute you too’. The church is in the midst of the world, but it is not of the world. As Jesus declares in that gospel reading, ‘you do not belong to the world’. The really important question for the church is not, ‘what do people think of us?’ but ‘what is the Lord saying to us’ or ‘Where is the Spirit leading us?’ Answering those questions requires prayerful discernment from us all.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

We have become very aware in recent times of Christians who suffer for their belief in Jesus, especially in parts of the Middle East. Many have been put to death because of their refusal to renounce their Christian faith. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus is speaking to his disciples on the night before his own execution, his crucifixion. He warns his disciples and all future disciples that if the world persecutes him, it will persecute them. The term ‘world’ here is shorthand for those in the world who have said ‘no’ to Jesus and his message. We are not likely to be persecuted in this part of the world in the way that Jesus and many of his first followers were, and many of his followers today are. Yet, we can experience more subtle forms of hostility and rejection, to the point where we can be afraid to witness publicly to the values of Jesus and of the gospel. We can be very tempted to keep our head down and to stay silent. We can be intimidated by the forces at work in the culture that appear to be so intolerant of any form of religious faith and of any institution that promotes it. We have been reading from the Acts of the Apostles in our first reading this Easter Season. What often comes across in the story of those early Christians is their courage in the face of hostility. They seemed to rely not on themselves but on the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the risen Lord, whom they experienced within and among themselves. This same Holy Spirit is available to us all. We need the Spirit if our faith is to be as courageous as that of the first believers.

 And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

Saint Patrick in his Confession writes that sometime after he returned to Britain having escaped from captivity in Ireland he had a vision one night in which he saw a man named Victor who had come from Ireland with a large number of letters. In the vision this man gave Patrick one of the letters and Patrick read the opening words of the letter which were, ‘the voice of the Irish’. At the same time, Patrick began to hear the voice of those who lived near where he had been held captive and they shouted, ‘We ask you, boy, come and walk once more among us’. I was reminded of that section of Patrick’s Confession by this morning’s first reading. According to our reading, one night Paul had a vision while in Troas, which is in north western Turkey. In that vision a Macedonian appeared and appealed to him, ‘Come across to Macedonia and help us’. Macedonia is in northern Greece. Both Patrick and Paul responded to the calls they heard and as a result those who had never heard the gospel came to know Christ. We are all called by God in some way or other; we are always trying to discern the call of the Lord in our lives. One thing we can be sure of is that insofar as we respond to the Lord’s call to us, the lives of others will be greatly blessed.

 And/Or

(iv) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

John’s gospel speaks about God’s love for the world. God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. In today’s gospel reading Jesus speaks about the world’s hatred for him and for his followers. In Luke’s gospel Jesus calls on his disciples to love their enemies and to do good to those who hate them. The gospels suggest that Jesus was realistic about the hostility that would come his own way and the way of his followers. Yet, he wanted his followers to relate to the world not on the basis of how the world relates to them but on the basis of how God and Jesus relate to the world. In the gospel reading Jesus says, ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. That can be read in two ways. One way is, ‘if the master experienced hostility so will the servants’. The other way is, ‘if the master washed the feet of the servants, including the feet of Judas, the one who betrayed him, the servants must do likewise; they must reveal the love of God to others regardless of how they relate to them’. That saying of Jesus, ‘a servant is not greater than his master’ gives us much to ponder. It is only with the help of the Holy Spirit that we can be like the master in every respect.

 And/Or

(v) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

In the gospel reading this morning Jesus tells his disciples on the night before he died that they can expect the same hatred from the world that he himself has experienced. In that regard, as in others, he remarks that a ‘servant is not greater than his master’. We know that Christians are being persecuted in many parts of the world at present. There has been persecution of the church in China for many decades. In the Maoist era, Catholics were forced to go underground. Mao’s late wife once said, ‘Christianity in China has been confined to the history section of the museum. It is dead and buried’. Thankfully, China’s Christians have greater liberties now than in the past. Yet, those Catholics who recognize the Pope rather than the state-backed Catholic Patriotic Association are liable to persecution and harassment. In a letter written to the faithful of the Catholic church in China in May 2007, Pope Benedict XVI expressed the hope that this day, May 24, would become a day of prayer for the church in China. The Pope chose this day because is the memorial of Our Lady Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Marian shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. The statue of Our Lady Help of Christians at the shrine is very striking. Our Lady holds the child Jesus high above her head; the child’s hands are extended straight out to left and right symbolizing his death on the cross and the overcoming of his death with his resurrection. These outstretched arms are also a symbol of love for all humanity. We remember to pray for the church in China today and we also ask the Lord to make us more courageous in bearing witness to him in our own time and place.

And/Or

 (vi) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

There is something of a contrast between today’s first reading and today’s gospel reading. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives us a very positive picture of Paul’s ministry in what is now Turkey. Luke, the author, tells us that ‘the churches grew in faith, as well as growing daily in numbers’. They were growing in both quality and numbers. Paul reaches Troas which is on the north-west coast of modern day Turkey, and there he has a dream in which he hears the people of Macedonia, in Northern Greece, call out to him to preach the gospel among them. Paul immediately makes plans to cross from what we would call today Asia, Turkey, to Europe, Greece. This is the moment when the gospel reaches Europe for the first time, probably less than twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Luke gives us a sense of the Holy Spirit at work guiding Paul and his companions, charting their course. It is a very encouraging picture. However, in the gospel reading Jesus paints a somewhat bleaker picture. He tells his disciples that just as the world, the world of unbelief, has hated him, so it will hate them. A servant is not greater than his master. As they persecuted the master, Jesus, they will persecute the servants, his disciples. If Luke in the first reading depicts the work of the Spirit, the gospel reading depicts hostility to that work. Both these realities will always be a feature of the church’s life and mission. What matters is that in the face of the hostility to the gospel message, we never lose sight of the Spirit at work within us and among us.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[mountainmaster489]

Hi, @reve13​, I promised to tell you about the Russian holidays, I hope it comes in handy and will be fun😉:

1. The very first in the year and the most widely celebrated holiday is the Novyy god (New Year).

It's celebrated on the night of December 31 to January 1. New Year holidays (weekends) last from January 1 to January 8. New Year is a secular holiday loved by almost all the inhabitants of the country, regardless of nationality or religion.

According to tradition, a few days before the New Year it is customary to install and decorate the fir-tree, as well as the house. As a rule, when the New Year is celebrated, close people gather at the New Year's table, usually on the evening of December 31 of the outgoing year.

The coming of the new year and the actual beginning of the celebration is marked by the Kremlin Clock striking twelve, i.e. midnight Moscow Time preceded by the New Year Address by President of Russia and followed by the playing of the National Anthem of Russia.

The most popular dishes of the New Year's table in Russia are "Olivier" salad (Russian salad), "Selyodka pod Shuboi" salad (Herring under a fur coat), Kholodets (aspic), caviar, champagne, tangerines, etc. Popular hot dishes include a roasted pig, roasted meat chunks, goose with apples, chicken stuffed with buckwheat and mushrooms, sour cream hare, venison, lamb, whole fish, etc...

Gifts to Russian children and adults are brings by Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost). This is a character of Slavic fairy-tale folklore. In its origins, he is a pagan personification of the forces of nature (winter and frost) and a wizard. Ded Moroz is depicted as an old man in a colored - blue, blue, red or white coat, with a long white beard and a staff in his hand, in felt boots. He rides three horses. Usually comes accompanied by his granddaughter, Snegurochka (Snow Maiden), who helps him. Snegurochka is also a fabulous folk character. At holidays, acts as an intermediary between children and Ded Moroz. Sometimes portrayed as a little girl, sometimes an adolescent. She wears long silver-blue robes and a furry cap or a snowflake-like crown. They can also be accompanied by forest animals.

We also have very popular fireworks. After midnight, it may resemble a small colorful war, hee hee.

2. Christmas in Russia (Russian Orthodox Church), commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, is celebrated on 7 January in the Gregorian calendar. Christmas is considered a high holiday by the Russian Orthodox Church. On Christmas Eve, 6 January, there are several long services, including the Royal Hours and Vespers combined with the Divine Liturgy. The family will then return home for the traditional Christmas Eve "Holy Supper", which consists of 12 dishes, one to honour each of the Twelve Apostles. Devout families will then return to church for the "всенощная" All Night Vigil. Then again, on Christmas Morning, for the "заутренняя" Divine Liturgy of the Nativity. This holiday is important for religious Orthodox Christians.

3. St. Valentine's Day is a holiday of Catholic origin, which is celebrated on February 14 in many countries of the world. Named after one of two early Christian martyrs with the name Valentine.

Those who celebrate this holiday give their beloved and dear people gifts, flowers, sweets, toys, balloons and special cards (often in the shape of a heart) with verses, love confessions or wishes of love - Valentine. This holiday gained popularity in the 90s in Russia. It is not a public holiday or a day off, but rather widely celebrated by young people.

Сompetition for Valentine's Day is All-Russian Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness (The Day of Saint Peter and Saint Fevronia). This holiday is celebrated on July 8th. Its symbol is a white daisy. The history of the spouses of Peter and Fevronia is the embodiment of the unquenchable love and loyalty. This date are trying to popularize , because many Russians dislike the foreign Valentine's Day, which is called commercial.

4. Defender of the Fatherland Day (День защитника Отечества) is a holiday observed in Russia on 23 February.

Officially, as the name suggests, the holiday celebrates people who are serving or were serving the Russian Armed Forces (both men and women, both military and civilian personnel), but unofficially, nationally it has also come to include the celebration of men as a whole, and to act as a counterpart of International Women's Day on March 8. Because the majority of men in Russia undergo mandatory short military service.

The holiday is celebrated with parades and processions in honor of veterans, and women also give small gifts to men in their lives, especially husbands (or boyfriends, fiances), fathers, sons and brothers. As a part of the workplace culture, women often give small gifts to their male co-workers. State day off.

5. International Women's Day is celebrated on the 8th of March every year. It appeared as a day of women's solidarity in the struggle for equal rights and emancipation. State day off. The celebration of March 8 in Russia includes the established tradition of giving women flowers and other gifts.

6. Maslenitsa (Мaсленица) is an Eastern Slavic religious and folk holiday, which has retained a number of elements of Slavic mythology in its ritual, celebrated during the last week before Great Lent, that is, the eighth week before Eastern Orthodox Pascha. The date of Maslenitsa changes every year depending on the date of the celebration of Easter. The traditional attributes of the Maslenitsa celebration are the scarecrow of Maslenitsa (which burn), making visits, sleigh rides, dressing up, bonfires, snowball fights, the capture of the Snow Fortress, festivities. Russians people bake pancakes and tortillas. It is customary to eat them with various fillings and share with friends.

7. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Easter (Paskha/Пасха) according to the Orthodox calendar, and so it can occur in April or May. Russians celebrate Easter with decorated eggs, special foods, and customs. The day before Easter all churches hold night services and organize religious processions around churches. By that time, kulich, the traditional holiday baking symbolizing the body of Christ, had been already baked and Easter eggs painted. The morning starts from visiting neighbors and giving away Easter eggs. The common phrase you can hear on that day is: "Khristos voskres!" (Christ is risen!), which is to be followed by "Voistinu voskres" (Truly He is risen! This traditional greeting followed by hugging and triple kissing is called "kiss of peace". Christian Easter feast lasts seven days and is called the Holy Week or Sedmitsa.

8. Spring and Labor Day. 1st May Day in its present form arose in the middle of the 19th century in the labor movement, which put forward the introduction of an eight-hour working day as one of the main requirements. In today's Russia, the holiday has lost its original political character. Some political parties and labor unions may have demonstrations on this day, but most Russians use Spring and Labor Day for gardening or spending time with their families. It is also common for people to have picnics or barbecues. Men may give spring flowers, especially tulips and lilacs, to women, and parents may buy balloons and ice-cream to their children to celebrate the end of the cold season in Russia. 1 May is a public holiday.

9. Victory Day. May 9, Russia celebrates the victory over Nazi Germany, while remembering those who died in order to achieve it. On 9 May 1945 (by Moscow time) the German military surrendered to the Soviet Union and the Allies of World War II in Berlin. Victory Day is by far one of the biggest Russian holidays. It commemorates those who died in World War II and pays tribute to survivors and veterans. Flowers and wreaths are laid on wartime graves and special parties and concerts are organized for veterans. In the evening there is a firework display. A huge ground and air military parade, hosted by the President of the Russian Federation, is annually organized in Moscow on Red Square. Similar ground, air and marine parades are organized in several other Russian cities. It’s a public holiday.

10. Russia Day (День России/Den Rossii) National Day, celebrated on 12 June. On this day, in 1991, Russian parliament formally declared Russian sovereignty from the Soviet Union.

11. Unity Day (День народного единства/Denʹ narodnava yedinstva) is a national holiday in Russia held on November 4. It commemorates the popular uprising which expelled Polish–Lithuanian occupation forces from Moscow in November 1612, and more generally the end of the Time of Troubles. The day's name alludes to the idea that all classes of Russian society united to preserve Russian statehood when there was neither a tsar nor a patriarch to guide them.

Celebrations of these days are accompanied by: Flag hoisting, parades, fireworks, award ceremonies, singing patriotic songs and the national anthem, speeches by the President, entertainment and cultural programs.

[astarion-dekarios]

Saint-Simonians in Nineteenth-Century France: Chapter Two

Read my first chapter discussion here.

So this chapter goes into the transformation of the movement into a religious organization, which Pilbeam seems to attribute to the close relationship between Saint-Simonism and Romanticism; the Saint-Simonian religion itself being a transformation of the movement from “rational” to “emotional/sentiment”-oriented. Saint-Simoians believed that reform needed “more than a secular basis” to solve society’s ills, and that change should be rooted in faith and morality, not just reason. “Religion will dominate not only politics, but politics will become a religious institution.”

The religion started out without a god or supernatural elements, and was more of a program of social reform and a philosophical worldview involving the role of science, the arts, and industry. Later mystical elements included a belief that “all living creatures, including humans, shared attributes which survived death and were reincarnated.” The way this line is phrased reminds me of one of Combeferre’s [cut] lines from the musical...

The Arts -- “The arts are a part of religion, and the artist is a priest.” Artists represented the spiritual component, and were seen as able to portray the feelings of a group or society. Pilbeam says this is counter to “contemporary views that the artist spoke as an individual.”

Science -- “The essence of Science is knowledge of God, and might properly be defined as theology.” The scientist/philosopher represented reason, which I guess is sort of in-between the spiritual and material worlds.

Industry -- “[in exploiting the earth’s resources,] the earth will be changed, man will [...] carry on the work of creation. By these means industry will become faith.” Industriels or workers spoke for the material world.

God was defined as “the unity of the spiritual and material world”. In another idea clearly influenced by Romanticism, there was also a major focus on “an androgynous spiritual authority” and the union between masculine and feminine, with the masculine representing the material and the feminine representing the spiritual. Women were also placed in high regard within the structure of the organization, including the desire for both a “male and female pope”. More practically, they shared leadership of the sections and played a major role in implementing the more practical ideas of the organization. Actual women Saint-Simonians had a close affiliation with the cult of Mary and melded the ideas together, but men “never referred to” it at all.

Saint-Simonains adopted Fourier’s views on free love and sexual liberation. The free love thing wasn’t all great though because it gets pretty cult-y especially with Enfantin becoming pope and going all “the more sexual partners, the more love”. The religion also tended towards a hierarchial authoritarian structure and ritualistic elements incorporated from Freemasonry, the Knights Templar [a bunch of whom joined up early on] and the Catholic Church, and involved mass confessions. There was a lot of disagreement about this trend of the religion and at this point the group splintered, as well as having a major element of dissatisfaction within the sect.

ASIDE from the structural change within the organization, they also shifted gears from having public meetings and lavish dinners and into “the first attempt at practical social reform in France.” They set up two hostels for workers and their families with common cooking, eating, and laundry facilities, nurseries, evening classes in literacy that were taught by middle-class members of the sect, and free medical services that were provided by the doctors and medical students within the organization. This was all happening starting in late 1829 and with accelerated intensity after 1830 so it would be an interesting thing to have Combeferre involved with, I think. The hostels housed 25 families and “1,200 non-resident worker members” and were in the rue Popincourt and the rue Tour d’Auvergne. They also supported an association to provide free education for girls and boys that was set up in the medical school. 

Despite Rodrigues claiming that “the sacred flame of enthusiasm cannot be ignited by the puny nourishment of philanthropy”, the Saint-Simonians increasingly took on “the aura of a charitable foundation, rather than a radical creed.” “All the directors spend most of their time on practical and charitable matters”, with a massive workload of unpaid charitable labor that was primarily put on the women who were more involved in the practical programs. And despite some substantial donations from the wealthy, and the initial thought that the workers’ hostels would be self-sustaining from worker residents’ contributions, funds were always a problem, both of the hostels got into debt pretty quickly and another two were unable to be set up due to a lack of capital.

The organization also did continue having public meetings on Thursdays and Sundays from 4-6 PM at rue Taitbout, with up to 500 people sometimes attending on Sundays. There were other meetings headed up directed at a smaller audience, for workers, middle-class people, and even one held in Italian for immigrants. For a while the Saint-Simonians got past the laws against open meetings by using the religious exemption, but there was also a belief that the law banning associations with over 20 members was defunct after July 1830 (it wasn’t). Around this time they also started recruiting outside of Paris, and had particular success in Lyon, with the silk weavers; workers outside of Paris were attracted by the focus on workers’ associations, and inside Paris they even created a new tailors’ association with uniforms, which the book claims was the “first such worker organisation created in France”.

The organization got a lot bigger around this time, but the Saint-Simonian sect was actually very small compared with the radical secret societies like the Amis du Peuple and the Droits de l’Homme (who had around 30,000 total subdivided into groups of <20). It seems like getting a total for the Saint-Simonians is difficult, but of the “offically” enrolled there appears to be only about 600, with a couple thousand additional supporters who were maybe not official members.

[transcending-chaos]

Writing Religions 101

Okay, so I’m not just gonna bitch about this tonight, here’s a quick 101 on writing these things. This is one heck of a long post, but hopefully it’ll explain things well enough. 

CLASSIFICATIONS

There are measurements and rules as to what classifies/what is considered a religion, especially if you want to write an Organized Religion. As such, here are the definitions again, as well as what they entail:

Religion is a group of collected beliefs passed down either through generational storytelling, instruction, or conversion. These beliefs have significance, importance, and prevalence in the adherents’ society, social activities, personal lives, relationships, and world views

Basically, religions are (often) archaic or long-standing, established beliefs that have weathered the passage of time or transformed along with it. They spread via common story-telling, through writing, generational teachings, familial traditions, are have bearing in an individual adherent’s life in some form, even if it’s mild superstition. It is a cultural tool used to help inform a worldview, and teach the uninformed or uninitiated. Yes, this can be bad, and yes it can be good, but it needs to have impact that resonates with the masses- even if it’s contained to one area. The resonance and personal value is what quantifies it as a religion in the first place; yes this varies from person to person, but without that quality, validity, attachment, and lens to help view the world through, it is not considered a religion or faith.

If this sounds strange, that’s because you’re trying to measure and quantify feeling, emotional and spiritual attachment, and give it value to be measured by. It’s a hard thing to do, but it can be done. It’s the attachment of people and principles, their devotion, their community and connection with a cause and ideal that is bigger than themselves.

So, that’s the broadest definition I can give, now to the sub-categories.

Organized Religion is a religious structure, narrative, values, and set of beliefs specified in a formally established doctrine that has interpreters, leaders, and systems. These are post-literate, meaning written or containing documents, and can be read or translated.

Any religion with definitive text and interpreter (preacher, spiritual leader)

This means that the religion has been written down and there is a structure and format to the members. Be it a hierarchy with different tiers, a community with a single speaker who reads, defines, and provides context for the text, or a structure where people take turns, Organized Religions have to be organized. There are systems to keep order, often for the sake of keeping the message of the text clear and unified, and this is what allows Organized Religions to spread so easily when compared to their counterpart. They often have community outreach or influence, they have a tendency to be much larger than Folk Religions, as well as considered more ‘valid’ in the eyes of the law because of their prevalence and the beneficial value they bring to the masses.

Please note that Organized Religions do not always mean Theocracies, though if you’re going to make a believable theocratic structure, you might want to use this one because it’d be a larger threat.

Folk Religion is/are social concepts followed by groups of people often determined by old superstitions and regional practices.

This one is harder to define because it can be offensive or insinuate that a group’s customs or traditions are not a ‘valid’ religion. Everything from tribal religions, forgotten ancient customs that few still practice, to civil religions can be considered Folk Religion.

Folk Religions are like old wives’ tales that are specific to regions or smaller territories than Organized Religions, as well as not usually written down. These have a far greater emphasis on oral storytelling and generational teachings, and of the two, are the ones with more malleable symbols and structures, but ultimately the morals and messaging should reach the same conclusion. These tales are more like superstition, often subtle, and often very simple. Considering a black cat crossing your path as bad luck is an example, throwing salt over your left shoulder if you spill it is another. Heck, if a town has ghost stories that are shared and reiterated over generations, than that’s a form of Folk Religion.

Cult as a term used to refer to those devoted to certain sects of larger religions. (For instance those who were devoted to a certain Saint in Catholicism would be considered a cult, but they still followed the larger practices and doctrine of the Catholic teachings.)

New movements within larger religions were usually classified as cults before becoming established sects.

In the traditional sense, Cults really were just smaller facets of larger religions that were devoted to another god within a pantheon, a saint within the host, etc. Also, anything new or not established were considered cults, as they were not formally organized, as widespread, or long-standing as the other two types of religions.

In the modern sense, cults are groups that practice a predatory method of recruitment and extremist ideals. Cults can rise to the level of organized religions, but doing so takes great periods of time, devotion from followers, outreach, influence, etc.

WHY DO CLASSIFICATIONS MATTER?

Quite simply, it determines structure, influence, validity (as determined by law), acceptance by outsiders, and the gauge your characters’ faith will be measured by. These criteria are put in place so that no one can make up something and then just say it’s a religion to get out of doing something else or breaking a law; it’s a way of categorizing and verifying that something is indeed intrinsic to one’s way of life.

Religion *has* to matter to your world if you give it one; it must have impact in some way. Does this mean your character has to have faith? No, absolutely not. But if you mention religion or begin to hint at one, be prepared to at least write the basic ramifications/effects of it existing in your world.

WAYS RELIGION HAS IMPACT/THE ‘WHY’ OF HAVING RELIGION

Religions are forms of mythology, ways that were established to explain the world when people did not know much about it.

Religions pass down traditions and connect multiple generations of people

Religions can unify nations and create peace/community through common belief

Religions dictate morality, good conduct, bad conduct, and consequences for actions

Religions were used to maintain order during periods of great social change

Religions offered entertainment for the masses or distractions from hard work as most are filled with parables

Religions offer comfort, solidarity, and purpose to those who need/seek it (ie. ‘finding faith’)

These are all explanations of why we have religions to begin with; whether it’s an old mythology that was once used to explain the world, or a collection of stories that withstood the test of time and slowly was transformed into something greater, these are reasons we have religions today. You must have a why, be it because of people trying to make the world into something they could fathom, actual divine instruction/intervention, or something someone made up and established a long time ago to create an empire, there has to be a reason. There must be a catalyst: a prophet or leader, an event, an object, something that still holds great relevance and meaning in the current day and age.

If you want an old-world religion, then go with the myth, tradition, and morality reasons.

If you want a religion that’s being used to manipulate the way a certain group of people thinks and interprets the world (via a theocracy), then go the route of choosing unification, morality, maintaining order (to repress change), and comfort.

If you want more of a Folk Religion path, choose something more like morality and entertainment.

Yet whatever the case, keep in mind that in order for your religion to stay around in your world, it must have a redeeming value. This is why ‘comfort’ is on the list. People will ignore reason and fight for what makes them feel good. It’s a good scapegoat if you’re struggling to come up with other reasons. 

IMPACT AND SYMBOLS

Here is where you let your creative side go nuts. Because your religion has relevance to groups of people and their worldview, it’s obviously impacted how they interact with the world. Your doctrine can be as broad or specific as you like, but it needs to have bearing on the world and/or it’s people. THERE MUST BE EFFECTS.

Symbols can be anything, for instance:

Christian Symbols:

-Christian Symbols focus predominantly on morality and the superiority of God

--Depending on what sect is using the symbols, certain images and techniques are more common

--Typically triumph Christian morals and viewpoints but these change based on the sects

-God Conquers All narrative

-Crosses (St. Peter’s Cross, the Crucifix) -humility, sacrifice, martyrdom, faith, carrying the weight of one’s sins

-Saints, Humans -servitude, reward, dedication, devotion, the images of God

-Angels -protection, devotion, messengers/heralds, divine interaction

-The Color Red -blood of Christ, sacrifice, fire and brimstone, hell and damnation

-The Color White -innocence, purity, virginity, perfection, divinity

-Theme of Unity and Edenic Worlds

-Theme of Virtue over Sin and/or Hypocrisy

-Theme of Conversion

Pagan Symbols

-Spirals and Knotwork -Pantheism, connection to all things

-Elements -Nature is Holy, Nature is God/powerful

-Magic -Transformation is necessary and natural, everyone and everything has power and importance

-Animals

--Predators are representative of savagery and forces greater than man

--Prey are humility, representative of humans, and how even the seemingly insignificant have important roles

--Sacrifices to or embodiments of God(s)

These symbols are highly malleable and change through the years to keep their relevance, but this is a rough outline of some very basic concepts.

Ultimately, choose your symbols with care and relevance to your created faiths.

WHY HAVE RELIGIONS AT ALL IN A NARRATIVE?

Aside from being a way to increase the scale of conflict to unfathomable and ancient wars between the very embodiments of good and evil, it’s a very easy way to get morals across as long as you’re clear in your messaging. Religions are very personal beliefs that are transcendental from culture to culture, relating themes in a concise manner (parables), and are often very human -because they have to relate to humans (I mean, in our world at least). They exist to fill needs, and whether those needs have gone and past are up to you in your narrative. Once again, they are cultural tools used to help inform a worldview, and teach the uninformed or uninitiated.

The possibilities are endless, but treat them with care.

For instance Religions can impact:

-Arts: fashion/visual arts/music/poetry/writing

-Sciences: the progression of how fields go forwards/sponsoring new fields of study

-Humanities: social structures/hierarchies/types of (un)favorable behavior/values of society

Literally anything and everything can be affected by religion, entire societies rise and fall with it.

These are just the most essential elements you need to write something that qualifies as a religion in your works. The broadness of the terms gives you a lot of room to explore, but it has to have substance, meaning, relevance, and an effect. Remember, you’re trying to validate and quantify things that are, by nature, unquantifiable. 

[lunaamatista]

Since I don't know much about Mexican culture, which I really want to since it is really amazing, I don't know if this question offensive or not. Sorry if it is. What religion do most Mexicans believe in that are native to Mexico? I heard that many believe in Christianity.

Hello and don’t worry, it’s not offensive at all!

For a lot of raw data, [this] is a good site to reference. Over 80% of us are Christians, but specifically Christian Catholics, with everything the belief entails. As such, visits by the Pope are a very big event, and if you are around Catholic communities (which you hardly ever won’t be), you can also expect Catholic youth groups to be running sales and boteos to collect money for their trip to wherever he’ll be. Botear is to carry around small boxes or cans (botes) to collect coins for different purposes, from this type of crowdfunding to charities and begging. 

You can also expect to see this kind of money gathering events when the same groups organize missions, which are most often held around Lent (particularly during Holy Week, which is a week-long national holiday) and Christmas, and sometimes in summers when they don’t have school. 

I figure a lot of it isn’t that different from your regular Catholicism, with what I’d say are two big exceptions:

To start with, let’s talk about the Virgen de Guadalupe or Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is her. 

We call the act of venerating her “guadalupanismo,” and what’s most important is that she is not only venerated by Catholics, but even by indigenous people and even some agnostics. A president of ours once said that

At the end of the day, to many Mexicans, to most of them, Our Lady of Guadalupe is a sign of identity and unity. We are guadalupanos regardless of, and I’d even dare to say despite our faith, our beliefs and non beliefs. [x]

And while not everyone is actually a guadalupano, it is true that she is such an important figure that her basilica gets 20 million visits every year, and it’s designed to hold 50,000 people at a time, making it the most popular Catholic sacred site in the world. [x]

She is truly the symbol that can and has brought unity, as in 1810, when Miguel Hidalgo led the fight for our independence, he carried a banner with her image and the words “Long live our most Holy Mother of Guadalupe!”

The history of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a symbol is fascinating, but the short version of it is that she is an example of religious syncretism. After the Conquista by the Spaniards and the forced conversion of indigenous peoople to Catholicism, they built a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary at the site where the indigenous people used to worship Tonantzin, the mother of the gods. However, the new converts would attend and still refer to the figure of their worship as Tonantzin, which didn’t exactly please the Catholic Church. This was remedied by the miraculous appearance of the above image on the tilma (blanket) of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin; in this depiction, the Virgin incorporated both indigenous and Catholic imagery and thus became a “Catholic” figure the converts could honor. And so, several centuries later, we’ve got a largely Catholic country. 

On December 12th, you can expect every road to be blocked by a pilgrimage led by matachines, who perform dances inspired in indigenous religious dancing. While matachines can perform dances for other figures, the Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is when you’re sure to find them. You can watch a video of them here [vid], plus many more in related. These pilgrimages lead to a church dedicated to her, of which you are pretty certain to find one in just about any place in the country. On that day, after your pilgrimage and mass you can probably hang out outside the church, where there will often be food stalls (I’ve had atheist and agnostic friends do the pilgrimage, hang outside of the church while we were in mass, and then hang out with us once that was done, since they’d just come just for the food).

The other big exception is Day of the Dead. If you watched Coco, you can already probably figure out it’s not fully Catholic. To keep it short, it incorporates elements of indigenous religion. I’ve talked about it briefly [here (old)] and [here]. I know this is underwhelming, but if you have any questions about it feel free to ask me specific things!

As for religions native to Mexico - if you made the math from my first link, at least 95% of the country would not practice them, so it’s hard for me to say much about them. They would have been Mexica, Maya, and Purépecha, but they’ve all but been wiped out by now. 

The other beliefs you can find nowadays, while not fully native to us, are also syncretic, and are considered folk religion: 

Predominantly, Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (Our Lady of the Holy Death). She is venerated as a symbol of death that looks over your health, protection, and safe crossing to the next world. Her imagery is based around Mictecacíhuatl, the ruler of the last level of the Mictlán, the Mexica afterworld. Interestingly, to people who venerate her this doesn’t seem to be at odds with Christianity, and even though the church forbids it there are people who practice both beliefs.

You’ve also got Santería, which just means “worship of saints.” To be perfectly honest, I have only heard of it but have never been come in contact with it, so my knowledge of it is just that it incorporates Caribbean Afro-American beliefs and Catholic ones. I would feel uncomfortable telling you more about something I don’t know, so sorry I can’t expand further!

I know this was long, but I hope it was helpful in some way!

[cerrynt-eiledol-von-welodd]

Discordic (Discordian magic) theory of colours

From the handbook of the UniversCity of Sockovia. Written and translated  by Cpt. Bucky "Saia" Stardancer - Masterphool in the Outer Space There is also something like a theory of colour in discordian magic. Discodianism refers specifically to some very special colours, the meaning of which should be explained briefly here from a discordo-magic point of view. Gold Ah, nice gold. Gold is pure, unadulterated and valuable. Gold has always been given special importance. Despite its apparent futility, wars for gold have always been fought and many people have lost their lives for absolutely unbelievable reasons (see Note 2). In Discordianism, gold is the colour of the Eris' apple. If you look at the apple as a symbol of its meaning in early religious groups, you can quickly see that the apple is often revered here as a fertility symbol and is generally associated with beginning, creation and fertility. The scholairly Phool may quickly discover certain parallels here. Thus we have the golden apple of Eris and because gold is not rarely the color of beauty but unfortunately also of destruction is symbolized here the aspect of the season "aftermath". The apple, on the other hand, symbolizes fertility and a new beginning and stands under the aspect of the season "chaos". In this sense, the golden apple is thrown at the end of the seasons, the cards are shuffled and everyone is waiting for the events of the new year. Maybe it is this deeper insight that connects the gold with the divine, which makes people worship gold and assigns it to strange magical peculiarities. For the discordians, gold is the color of the divine. Eris himself touched the apple and in it lies her extraordinary ability to walk in chaos. It stands for the fertility of chaos and the old gods, but also for destruction and war. Just think of the legend of the Trojan War in its Discordic version of history, in which the only golden thing is the apple and gold is, for once, not the main reason for a war. Another reference to gold as a magical Discordic colour can be found in R. A.'s Illuminatus books. Wilson and Robert Shea. Hagbard's submarine is also made of gold and hides golden statues in the ruins of Atlantis that were more than just perfect (aspect divine). So whenever a Phool wants to call the divine powers, the color gold should also be in play. Gold can also be used in lower rituals that are devoted to either fertility or destruction.    Gold:    Aspects: Divine, Creative, Destroying    Seasons: Aftermath, Chaos    Special item: Golden Apple, Submarines    Special holiday: The night of the 73rd aftermath of the 1st chaos    Residence: Anarchy, Spirituality    Direction: Top    Saint: Hagbard Celine    Serape: Billbob Cipherpants    Power animal: Starfish    Reagent: Gold, apples, starfish powder    Element: Boom Note 1 It is advisable from Discordo's magical point of view to place rituals containing an apple throw at the end of the year, exactly into the night when the seasons change. This symbolic action also reinforces the apple throwing as a symbol for the destruction of the old by the new. Note 2 An old discordic proverb that I heard from the Dude of Germs at the time does not say "if you want to blind an army, throw gold in their faces". Note 3: The starfish is chosen as a power animal because it represents the beginning as well as the end, according to Starfish Cult. In the Starfish Circle it is an exploding star in fom by Big Motha Starfish who sends a small starfish to Earth and lets it all begin there. The circle ends with the small starfish returning to the cosmos. This is also where the cycle of decay and depletion can be seen. The golden cut also shows that the Starfish has a direct connection to Eris.

Grey Grey is also a Discordic colour. She stands for grey face and grey bureaucracy on grey computers in grey buildings. Grey are grey days and the boredom that such days occasionally cause is horrible. Grey is monotonous. A meaningless mass in which all fountains in the grey fog become one and no separation between black and white can be seen. Grey thus represents the dissolution of concepts and black and white thinking. If you think grey, you think monochrome, not even another aspect is allowed besides grey, because grey covers everything. On the one hand, grey symbolizes the monotony or also the stubbornness with all the consequences of just one way to follow, on the other hand, the black and white one will just think that bureaucrats are so often subordinated to being dissolved in grey. Here, as with gold, you can see the contrast inherent in every discordic colour. Gray is the monotony, but it hides all aspects and facets that are hidden in the scale black and white. This represents the absolute tolerance that can be found in the discordo magic context in grey. That tolerance stands in direct connection with the proverbial black and white thinking and the ignorance people show when they simply hide unpleasant things. Since grey is also in connection with the fog, which hides everything from the eyes as a cloudy, grey mass, the colour grey is also suitable for discordo magic rituals that make something or someone disappear. Maybe on a grey day some nice gentlemen who are dressed in black and white, have a bureaucratic background and are ignorant and make something or someone disappear. In Discordianism, grey is also directly associated with Gruad Greyface, as well as with the curse of the grey face and the people we generally call "Greyface". Despite this, for the discordant quite negative interpretation, Phools know the duality inherent in grey. In the sense of the doctrine of emptiness and the dissolution of concepts as well as the blurring of boundaries, rituals containing the colour grey are often used in connection with the sacrifice of hard drugs.    Grey:    Aspects: duality, resolution, monotony    Seasons: Bureaucracy    Special item: jug, stamp    Special holiday: Bureauflux and every 4 years especially St. Tibs Day    Residence: Empty, Bureaucracy    Direction: Without    Saint: Anonymous    Serape: Ormek, Smith 51    Power animal: single-celled organism    Reagent: cabbages, bureaucratium, hard drugs    Element: Prickle Note 1 The House of Emptiness uses a jug of water for certain rituals related to bureaucracy, disappearances or conformity. This may sound paradox at first, but it should also. Only together do the benefits of jug and water come together and so two things merge into one, black and white becomes grey. In addition, Larry lives in a jug and Larry is often seen as a protective demon of the home of emptiness.

Orange Orange is one of the most classic colours offered by Discodianism. It is even so classical that it has its own element. Orange is strongly associated with gold and so it is hardly surprising that even orange has classic destructive gold aspects. Finally, orange is formed from the mixture of yellow and red. Fire is often depicted in orange, red or yellow, and just as fire has a destructive component, fire also stands for enlightenment and light in general. Fire is progress but also destruction and orange symbolizes just that. Progress by overcoming the old. Orange may well destroy, but the old is always followed by the new and Orange shows this in all its facets. Thus destruction can mean that this planet will eventually burn in the orange fire of the sun, but also the old ideas will be replaced in favour of new knowledge. The torch is a typical object whose orange features are more than obvious for initiated phoolics. Prometheus gave fire to the people and with it progress, knowledge and prosperity (gold/yellow colour) but also many villages were razed to the ground by the targeted throwing of a torch, not to mention how many people died on the pyre of the Middle Ages. And so, in Orange, the powers of destructive are united with the powers of constructive and prosperity. Orange is always used when it comes to invoking the powers of destruction or knowledge and creative creation. Orange thus clearly shows those aspects that have such a decisive influence on discordanism. Orange impressively combines the concepts of destructive and constructive order with the concepts of destructive and constructive chaos. And just as the warm fire in the huts and caves of our ancestors brought them safety, so Orange brings us security at least in the question of what comes after the end.    Orange:    Aspects: Destruction, Enlightenment, Security    Seasons: Finish    Special item: Torch    Special holiday: Afflux    Home: Wisdom, Anarchy    Direction: Bottom, Top    Saints: - unknown -    Serape: Maloy    Power animal: Butterfly    Reagent: Oranges, book ash, candles    Element: Orange Note 1 Remarkable is that the color yellow from which orange is formed contains the aspect of creation and destruction as well as red the other color. Here, too, we find the astonishing connection between the four assumptions of the Discordians about the nature of chaos and order. Note 2 As described below for purple, Orange is a transformer color capable of transforming something or someone. Often associated with the burning of a fire, wood is more rarely transformed into ashes than a torch or light of enlightenment, which transforms the seeker into a finder.

Purple Purple is considered the colour of kings. Many noble men and women were described as "dressed in purple" and many high positions, whether secular or ecclesiastical, are only too happy to dress in this colour. Purple as a dye, was and is rare in demand. Whoever can afford it must have something (a crate of golden apples, for example) and whoever has something has the right to look down at the mob from above. That's the way it is. It is astonishing to see the origin of purple as a dye, which is appreciated by the high people. The basic ingredient is the purple snail. Add salt and urine and the dye was almost ready. The whole thing must not only have stank horribly so somehow also remains a silent suspicion that the dyers gave their urine only too gladly into the mixture. This shows the first magical property of purple. For when the high Lord wears a robe of purple, he also carries snail secretion and urine. Purple has a balancing effect where inequality prevails. It syncronizes the room and provides a harmonious balance in which, in contrast to grey, it makes it easy for people to do what they want. Where grey aggresiev and dominant occurs, purple is rather soft, subtle and unpredictable. Purple is considered to be a high, possibly divine colour even in the Christian sect, and it is used to clothe the most important and highest offices or to decorate the most important and highest objects. Through this charge of purple, which has been recalled as a shade of colour, one can safely assume that purple also possesses a certain heightened degree of spiritual and magical nature. In Discordianism we find purple as the color of the Purple sage. An obviously wise man who was presumably dressed in purple or painted purple. We find him as a remark in the Principia Discordia, which refers to the Honest Book of Truth. There is also a legend about a stone of the Purple sage which is said to contain the chaos in its purple purest form. This stone is said to transform (grey lead) into golden apples, which in magical form means that purple is a transformator capable of magically turning discordomagic grey to discordomagic gold. Snail glands and dyer's pipi become a king. For this reason, Phools like to use purple as a transformer color or for transfering rituals. Also in rituals that include the Phool as a fool or a joke amused about authorities is occasionally used purple to depict this. The fool is only too often king because he has more freedom to say what he thinks than anyone else. Likewise, many a king is a fool if he thinks he can control everything. However, purple is also the colour of wisdom that is obtained when the way gives the seeker a saying that appears meaningless. Brother Ron Oxymo of the monastery Santa Pippilotta auf dem Besen writes to Purple    Purple/lilac/violet (not even an unambiguous designation has been achieved so far) is a highly transcendent color that breaks the frame and therefore stands outside of this color system. Each colour has its own specific oscillation, from blue (low frequency) to red (high frequency), but violet, since it is a mixture of red and blue, has both high and low oscillation. Because of this inherent contradiction, it is also regarded as a colour of irrationality or religiousness (which is not a contradiction for discordants). It is also suitable as a symbolic color for the contradictory DISCORDIA, as YOUR actual symbol color hyperpurple (a mixture of infrared and ultraviolet) is unfortunately invisible to human (and many other) eyes. Since hyperpurple is not visible to the human eye, it can be assumed that there is also a strong connection between purple and Shmoo (the 5th colour). For Phools, this insight is invaluable when inventing spells and rituals that are supposed to transfer "base" qualities, things or persons into outer space. Here, too, the person to be transferred or transformed is wrapped in purple as a symbol of the transformation that the artifact in question is currently going through.    Purple:    Aspects: Transforming, Balancing    Seasons: All    Special item: robe,    Special holiday: All Flux days    Residence: Wisdom, Spirituality    Direction: Right, left    Morph: Betty (Bapheris)    Saint: - unknown - (the purple way can be used)    Flying monkey: - unknown-    Power animal: octopus    Reagent: red wine, a glass of snails, urine    Element: Piercing Note 1 Just as purple can be understood as a transformer for the base to noble, so orange can be inspired as a counterpole transformer. Where purple used marble and fine wood to create palaces and temples, orange burns them down and transforms them into ashes. Note 2 Purple is a soft, balancing transformer. If Orange transforms then with power and the result is unambiguous and not infrequently unchangeable. Purple as a magical color possesses the ability to transform gently. Almost imperceptibly the snail becomes the colour of the king's robes and here purple is also very special. Where Orange is consistent, purple is balancing despite the transformation. The king remains dressed in fabric dyed with snails and urine.

Schmu The last of the Discordo magic colors forms the invisible. The invisible color is that of the suspicions and suppositions and so some Phools suspect that the Principia Discordia also contains some pages that have been written with schmu and give a deeper insight. The invisible colour is, as already mentioned, related to purple but is rather in opposition to grey. When the spectrum is decolorized, every color in it is grey. Schmu looks the opposite. It covers the whole spectrum as well as grey but it intensifies the colours in it to the extreme. One can therefore also assume that schmu is a color from the inner part of the spectrum itself (a color of the inner cosmos). A common example under Phools says one should look into a star that emits all spectral colors. If you practice this only long enough you are able to see the invisible color (even if you don't see anything after that). However, this comparison really hits the nail on the head and so schmu as well as grey is one of the hiding colors. Normal people and even the most discordians are not able to perceive schmu at all. It is a very phoolistic colour and from the similarity of the schmu in the outer space the name for this invisible colour finally resulted. Explaining schmu as a color is even more complex than explaining red or green to a blind person. Therefore, we should not even try to formulate a comparative explanation here. The color schmu is described by Phools as the color of the schmu of the outer space and for this reason and of course for reasons of simplicity this name was chosen. Schmu also has in common with grey that it is out of the spectrum. Where grey does not contain any colour, schmu combines all colours at the same time. In the ritual, this is clearly demonstrated by the use of rainbow colors or dust as a substitute for (invisible) schmu. Schmu is also often interpreted as the traditional magical colour of the Phools. However, this is usually done by uninitiated people because the inaugurated Phool knows that every colour is magical in equal parts and can therefore be regarded equally. Ultimately, all colours come from the same source anyway.    Schmu:    Aspects: Mixing, Dissolving, Hiding    Seasons: Chaos, Confusion    Special subject: Eristic focus,    Special holiday: - unknown -    House: All    Direction: Without    Saint: - unknown -    Serape: - unknown -    Power animal: - unknown -    Reagent: Rainbow dust      Element: - unknown - Note 1 Phools also use schmu to describe the color of the particularly powerful, eristic antifacts. For example, this or that object is said to be very schmu saturated, or this or that book is very schmuy. This shows a particularly strong connection to the eristic energy which maybe corresponds to the opposite pole of grey, which is more associated with aneristic energy. Note 2 There is virtually nothing known about schmu. This is probably due to the fact that only Phools can see this color and to the strange character of the Phools and the schmu itself. Ultimately you only know that this color exists in the discordic spectrum and somehow covers everything that the other colors can't cover. This is the nature of schmu because schmu is made up of all colours.

[lost-carcosa]

To hear the Christian right tell it, President Trump should be a candidate for sainthood — that is, if evangelicals believed in saints.

“Never in my lifetime have we had a Potus willing to take such a strong outspoken stand for the Christian faith like Donald Trump,” tweeted Franklin Graham, the son of the evangelist Billy Graham. The Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress sees a divine hand at work: “God intervened in our election and put Donald Trump in the Oval Office for a great purpose.”

Testimonials like this confound critics who label conservative evangelical figures like Mr. Graham and Mr. Jeffress hypocrites for embracing a man who is pretty much the human embodiment of the question “What would Jesus not do?”

But what those critics don’t recognize is that the nationalistic, race-baiting, fear-mongering form of politics enthusiastically practiced by Mr. Trump and Roy Moore in Alabama is central to a new strain of American evangelicalism. This emerging religious worldview — let’s call it “Fox evangelicalism” — is preached from the pulpits of conservative media outlets like Fox News. It imbues secular practices like shopping for gifts with religious significance and declares sacred something as worldly and profane as gun culture.

Journalists and scholars have spent decades examining the influence of conservative religion on American politics, but we largely missed the impact conservative politics was having on religion itself. As a progressive evangelical and journalist covering religion, I’m as guilty as any of not noticing what was happening. We kept asking how white conservative evangelicals could support Mr. Trump, who luxuriates in divisive rhetoric and manages only the barest veneer of religiosity. But that was never the issue. Fox evangelicals don’t back Mr. Trump despite their beliefs, but because of them.

Consider the so-called War on Christmas, which the president has made a pet crusade. Mr. Trump has been sharing Christmas greetings since October, well before decorations had even shown up in most stores, when the Values Voter Summit crowd gave him a standing ovation for declaring, “We’re saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again!” He has spent November and December taking victory laps, telling crowds at political rallies in Utah and Florida that “Christmas is back, better and bigger than ever before.”

Every one of Mr. Trump’s predecessors declared “Merry Christmas,” too — including Barack Obama, whose message at last year’s Christmas tree-lighting ceremony was virtually indistinguishable from Mr. Trump’s. What matters to Fox evangelicals, though, is not that Mr. Trump observes Christmas but that he casts himself as the defender of the Christian holiday.

From the beginning, the War on Christmas was a homegrown Fox News cause, introduced by the so-named 2005 book by John Gibson, a former Fox News host, and promoted annually by Bill O’Reilly. But it was never really a religious argument. Mr. O’Reilly and company weren’t occupied with defending belief in the Virgin Birth or worrying that the celebration of Christ’s birth had become too commercialized.

In an irony appreciated by anyone who remembers the original anti-consumption, anti-Santa meaning of the “Reason for the Season” slogan, Fox and allies like the American Family Association focused on getting more Christmas into stores and shopping malls. For more than a decade, Fox News hosts have kept viewers updated on which stores were “in the Christmas spirit,” and the American Family Association, which operates nearly 200 radio stations in the United States, maintains its very own “naughty and nice” list for retailers.

As a result, the War on Christmas has moved one of the holiest Christian days out of the church and into the secular realm. That may suit conservative activists who promote Christian nationalism and want to see Christianity officially dominate the public sphere. But at a time when a new Pew Research Center study shows that only about half of those Americans who celebrate Christmas plan to do so as a religious holiday, the War on Christmas may be damaging Christian witness by elevating performative secular practices.

These days, even though Mr. O’Reilly declared “victory” last year in the War on Christmas, Fox News still gives the supposed controversy wall-to-wall coverage and has folded it into the network’s us-versus-them, nationalist programming. The regular Fox News viewer, whether or not he is a churchgoer, takes in a steady stream of messages that conflate being white and conservative and evangelical with being American.

The power of that message may explain the astonishing findings of a survey released this month by LifeWay Research, a Christian organization based in Nashville. LifeWay’s researchers developed questions meant to get at both the way Americans self-identify religiously and their theological beliefs. What they discovered was that while one-quarter of Americans consider themselves to be “evangelical,” less than half of that group actually holds traditional evangelical beliefs. For others, “evangelical” effectively functions as a cultural label, unmoored from theological meaning.

But if the conservative media has created a category of Fox evangelical converts, it has also influenced the way a whole generation of churchgoing evangelicals thinks about God and faith. On no issue is this clearer than guns.

In fall 2015, I visited Trinity Bible College, an Assemblies of God-affiliated school in North Dakota, to join the conservative evangelical students there for a screening of “The Armor of Light,” a documentary by the filmmaker Abigail Disney. The film followed the pastor and abortion opponent Rob Schenck on his quest to convince fellow evangelicals — the religious demographic most opposed to gun restrictions — that pro-life values are incompatible with an embrace of unrestricted gun access. I found Mr. Schenck compelling, and my editor had sent me to see if his target audience bought the arguments.

It did not.

As two dozen of us gathered for a post-screening discussion, I was both astonished and troubled, as a fellow evangelical, by the visceral sense of fear that gripped these young adults. As a child in the Baptist church, I had been taught to be vigilant about existential threats to my faith. But these students in a town with a population of some 1,200 saw the idea of a home invasion or an Islamic State attack that would require them to take a human life in order to save others as a certainty they would face, not a hypothetical.

These fears are far removed from the reality of life in North Dakota, a state that saw a total of 21 homicides in 2015. Of those deaths, seven were caused by firearms, and only three were committed by someone unknown to the victim. Yet the students around me agreed unreservedly with Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the National Rifle Association, who was seen in the film asserting that “in the world around us, there are terrorists, home invaders, drug cartels, carjackers, knockout gamers, rapers, haters, campus killers, airport killers, shopping mall killers.”

This worldview is familiar to anyone who has spent time watching Fox News, where every day viewers are confronted with threats to their way of life. It’s also profoundly un-Christian. One of the most consistent messages of the Bible is the exhortation “Do not be afraid!” Before young evangelicals can read, we memorize verses reminding us to “be strong and courageous” and “trust in the Lord.” “Fear,” says Mr. Schenck in the documentary, “should not be a controlling element in the life of a Christian.”

Fear and distrust of outsiders — in conflict with numerous biblical teachings to “welcome the stranger” — also explain Fox evangelicals’ strong support for the Trump administration’s efforts to bar refugees and restrict travel to the United States from several majority-Muslim nations. After Mr. Trump’s initial executive orders during his first week in office, more than 100 evangelical leaders, including the head of the National Association of Evangelicals, published a full-page ad in The Washington Post denouncing the refugee ban and urging the president to reconsider. But those leaders didn’t speak for most white evangelicals, three-quarters of whom told Pew pollsters they supported the refugee and travel bans.

That disconnect underscores the challenge many pastors face in trying to shepherd congregants who are increasingly alienated from traditional Gospel teachings. “A pastor has about 30 to 40 minutes each week to teach about Scripture,” said Jonathan Martin, an Oklahoma pastor and popular evangelical writer. “They’ve been exposed to Fox News potentially three to four hours a day.”

It’s meaningful, Mr. Martin says, that scions of the religious right like Jerry Falwell Jr. are not pastors like their fathers. “There was a lot I didn’t agree with him on, but I’m confident that it was important to Senior” — Jerry Falwell — “that he grounded his beliefs in Scripture,” Mr. Martin said. “Now the Bible’s increasingly irrelevant. It’s just ‘us versus them.’”

The result is a malleable religious identity that can be weaponized not just to complain about department stores that hang “Happy Holidays” banners, but more significantly, in support of politicians like Mr. Trump or Mr. Moore — and of virtually any policy, so long as it is promoted by someone Fox evangelicals consider on their side of the culture war.

“It explains how much evangelicals have moved the goal post,” said Mr. Martin. “If there’s not a moral theology or ethic to it, but it’s about playing for the right team, you can do anything and still be on the right side.”

[vieuxnoyesrp]

Ches. Kira has had a special place in our heart since she moseyed her way into the Quarter, and you managed to charm us all over again with her whimsical, dreamy personality which you caught so well. Even more important to us, you managed to toe the line between inquisitive, goofy Kira, and resolute, realistic Kira, allowing room for Kira to explore who she is, what she is, and who she wants to be. The headcanons you shared with us crackled with the intensity of Kira’s potential. Portraying the many different facets of teenager is difficult at the best of times, and yet you managed to highlight Kira’s insecurities and doubts without letting them rule. We can’t wait to watch the tension of this kitsune kid discovering herself set sparks across our dash!

Ches, thank you very much for applying. As for Kira…

                         ⚜ ~ WELCOME TO VIEUX NOYÉS!!! ~ ⚜

Wondering what to do next? Click here and let the good times roll!

⚜ Roleplayer:

⤜ Name/alias: Ches

⤜ Pronouns: She/Her

⤜ Age:  22 in three months, yikes

⤜ Timezone: CST UTC-6

⤜ Activity: 6-7, I’m in school and I work weekends, but I’m home and available every night, and constantly checking tumblr throughout the day on mobile.

⤜ Best form of contact: Through tumblr messaging is fine

⤜ Any Triggers? None

⤜ How did you find Vieux Noyés? Scrolling through the witch roleplay tag

⤜ What drew you to the RP? EVERYTHING! As you can guess by the way I found the rp, I’m a sucker for anything supernatural, shows, books, roleplays. They all draw me in. This place has a triple bonus since it’s based on one of my favorite dramas, has my favorite original characters AND some I don’t recognize (then again, I really fell off the wagon with Originals, so that could be why), and all of the drama waiting to explode in that plot has me squealing with anticipation. I want to see it all, and of course throw Kira into it somehow!

⤜ What is one subplot/element from the Plot page that you are particularly looking forward to seeing in this roleplay? I guess I just answered that question. I’ve been in love with the story of the Salem witches since forever ago, so I can’t wait to see how the witchy politics turn out between them and the NOLA coven, and how that effects everyone else. Are the Salem witches really going to follow Marcel’s magic ban? Having their own power source separate from ancestral magic, I wouldn’t think so. And then there’s the revival of the Hunters Guild the plot hints at. I suppose I’m really just excited for all the political drama going on in every supernatural sub-community.

⚜ Desired Character: KIRA YUKIMURA

⤜ Why do you want this character?

Where do I start? Kira and Lydia were my favorite characters in the drama, for one. I loved their personalities and was so excited to see Kira’s growth in her abilities and coming into herself (imagine my dismay when you know what happened). Aside from the show, Kira’s personality is the type I’ve always been drawn to in roleplaying and just in reading in general. I find her type the most relatable, and their journey to discover themselves and gain confidence in their abilities is always fun to roleplay. For me, it’s fun to slowly push her out of her shell and into relationships with other people, especially when they develop into close bonds. I’m also very interested in her becoming more assertive. Even though her parents aren’t part of the roleplay (unless I missed them somewhere), that can be inserted into plots or just self-paras down the line. The added bonus is the fact that she’s a kitsune. I’ve been obsessed with Japanese folklore since I was a child, which includes the lore surrounding kitsune. Kira in particular was fascinating to me because I’d never heard of one whose powers were specifically drawn from electricity before her introduction to TW. I look forward to roleplaying her exploration of her abilities and seeing what her full potential is (especially since it was never reached in the show). That being said, I don’t intend to make her all-powerful (if I’m accepted!), but I want to roleplay her discovery of her strengths, weaknesses, limits, etc. That will probably take discussion with the admins and some research on my part, but that’s all part of what makes supernatural roleplay fun in my opinion.

⤜ What are your future plans for this character?

Again, I suppose I kind of answered this question. I really want to push Kira out of her shell and develop personal relationships, stand up for herself more, be more confident in herself, and discover just what she is and what she can do. Even I don’t know what all that is, what with this secret organization her parents are part of. Other than confidence and exploring her powers, I would love to see where she fits into all of the political tension going on in the Quarter. As an unknowing were, she’ll eventually be forced to pick a side or remain neutral, but I don’t see remaining neutral as something that’s she’s capable of for moral reasons. In the process, she might have to stand against her parents, or friends, and I want to roleplay that when the time comes. And then there’s the overall tension outside of the were community.  The Quarter isn’t that big, so I imagine every supernatural is going to get dragged into the conflict between the covens and the vampires, only for that to be exacerbated by the Hunters. She’s going to have to decide who to support or where to remain neutral based on who she wants to protect and what she feels is right, and those two might conflict each other. I really want to see that.

⤜ Put yourself in your character’s shoes. Give us a few lines to describe a day in the life of your character… Where do they live? Where and how do they spend their time?

Of course she lives in a normal neighborhood with her parents, just close enough to school that she can take her bike instead of the dreaded bus. But she really lives in the Saint Aloysuis library, furiously typing away at whatever chapter she’s currently writing and often neglecting her homework in the process.  She tells herself it’s only Calculus, which she could do in her sleep. Or it’s only another poetry analysis essay that’s much simpler to write and never as enticing as the drabble ideas and climactic plots that practically loom over her shoulder, whispering temptation into her ears as if the fox spirits from her father’s stories have come alive. She’s mastered the art of writing a passing analysis essay in one night, and an essay guaranteed to give her an A if she actually puts more effort into it. On the nights when she has some freedom or the itch to leave her room, the university’s library is open almost all night and even has a Starbucks. What more could an aspiring writer need?  Her laptop is never out of reach specifically because inspiration strikes at the most unexpected moments, and she’s learned Google Drive is much better than any notebook she might carry. It has more space for one, and offers much more security should her works fall into the hands of prying classmates or, God forbid, her mother. She’s developed a weekly time table to balance her homework with updating her Wattpad stories, and volunteering, although it’s sometimes ignored in favor of posting double updates, drabbles, or new stories she just couldn’t resist. Her writing is really the only thing she’s allowed herself to be impulsive with. That, and her visits to the animal shelter. She visits religiously twice every week, sometimes more if school or her parents are becoming just a little too stressful. There’s something about the warmth with which the shelter animals greet her, how they lovingly paw at her legs and lick her fingers that’s instantly soothing. Kira can forget all of her troubles when she’s there, and often wonders how in the world her mother could say no to having a pet? Every now and then, she likes to visit Cafe du Monde, or Jackson Park to watch the tourists. Of course, she loves her coffee, but she also occasionally indulges in people-watching. It’s great material for when she’s writing, but it’s also her guilty pleasure. Sometimes, she watches the gaggles of strangers and tells herself that day will be the day she steps out of her shell. She’ll smile and wave at a stranger, start a conversation with someone wearing her favorite band T-shirt, walk up to a girl and tell her she really likes that dress, where’d she get it? All of these hopes were pushed aside the first time she tried to smile at a stranger who proceeded to walk right by. They just hadn’t seen her, is what she told herself, but she’s still not sure and definitely not ready to try again. More than twice every month, she comes home to the disappointed gaze of her father, who’s walked past her room and been horrified at the aftermath of a morning getting dressed. Every day, Kira finds herself going through several ensembles before settling on the usual graphic tees, jeans, and converse. She’s fairly certain her flashier clothes are just as flattering as she thinks they are, but the last thing she wants is to deal with Jeremy freaking Gilbert’s immature comments. She’s known him long enough to know they’d come if she tried to change. That being said, she’s gathered her courage and worn clothes a little out of her comfort zone once or twice while visiting the park. The one time a stranger complimented her was enough to make the girl glad she’d stepped out of her shell at least this much.

⤜ Give us three headcanons regarding your character of choice. (If your character is from one of the tv shows, please come up with a headcanon that is not explicitly stated on the show, but is rather based on your own imagination.)

(This was mentioned briefly in the bio and her photoset and I love it) Kira’s a writer, although she finds it difficult to call herself that. All she does is write fanfictions under an alias online and post drabbles every now and then. She’s hardly an author, and is so unsure of herself that’s she’s never even been able to present her work to Mr. Lewis, the high school creative writing teacher. The shy little thing’s approached him with the intention of showing him her work five times in the few weeks she’s been here, only to chicken out each time because of her own worries. She relies on the mostly encouraging comments and feedback from readers online, taking it all to heart every time she writes a basic outline or character bio. Her dream is to become a professional writer, and she wants to go to school for it but she has her doubts. Not only is there her own insecurity to face, but the disapproval from her parents that’s sure to come if she tells them. So she quiets that dreamy voice in her head when the conversation comes up, instead saying she might want to become a teacher or professor like dad. It keeps them satisfied, and works as a nice backup plan. The two professions aren’t the same, but as long as she can indulge in her passion and keep her imagination alive, it’s enough for the young fox. Ever since that time she survived being electrocuted, she’s developed the hobby of chasing lightning during storms. She doesn’t do anything as poetic as dancing in the rain. The girl’s got two left feet and fell flat on her butt three too many times back when she was enrolled in basic ballet lessons. But she’s almost perfected the art of sneaking out of her room at night and racing off on her bike, chasing bolt after shimmering, ephemeral bolt until the hints of sunrise appear. She survives the day after with a cup of strong, black coffee – forcefully taken – and power naps during lunch if her body still threatens to crash afterwards. Kira isn’t quite sure what she’ll do if she actually encounters a lightning bolt one night. Touch it? The idea used to sound fatally idiotic to her, but the more she thinks about it, the more she knows, somewhere in her gut, that it just might feel right.

The one grudge she holds against her parents is the fact that they deprived her of any close familial ties. She’s an only child, she has no cousins that she knows of, and the mere hint that she might want some type of pet warrants that stony, frigid gaze from her mother that demands silence on the topic and makes her skin tingle with fear. Since Kira’s yet to make friends, she does the next best thing and hangs out at the local animal shelter often. The attendants are so familiar with her that they often ask her to come in and play with the animals when they’re short of staff. The familiarity is something Kira’s proud of, even if it’s nowhere near an actual friendship. Still, it’s more than any relationship she’s had in the past, and it’s given her someplace else she feels at home.

Kira’s romantic experience is exactly zero, zilch, nonexistent. But she’s had crushes before and feels that there’s something a little off compared to what she’s heard both from media portrayals and the few girls she’s known. There is no sexual tension or dirty daydreams for her, and the mere idea of being alone with someone in that setting and naked gives her butterflies for the wrong reasons. The extensive searching she’s done online has led her to the conclusion that she’s asexual. Of course she’s not so quick to label herself after having no actual experience. Maybe she hasn’t met the right person yet. Maybe it’s just because of her personality. But everything she’s read so far about asexuality leaves her thinking ‘That’s me’.

Kira often feels like she’s at odds with her parents, especially her mysterious mother, but she’s always had a soft spot for her father’s stories. She’s not sure if it was because he wanted to pass on a part of their heritage or because he was so passionate about them, but he’s told her tales of kumiho and kitsune for as long as she can remember. When other kids her age were listening to Harry Potter or Narnia at night, Kira was begging her father for more tales of trickster spirits luring travelers astray with the forms of beautiful women and samurai that avenged their lords at the cost of their lives. She used to enthusiastically claim she’d be a historian when she grew up just to watch her father’s eyes light up with pride. Now that’s she’s a teenager, she doesn’t lean towards that profession so strongly. However. Mr. Yukimura still finds his daughter curled up in his office with the books he used to read to her, and his tales of samurai and mythology still bring a soft smile to her lips.  

⤜ What are some plots you’d like to explore with your character?

She knows it’s not exactly smart to go wandering around the woods. In fact, it’s dangerous and more than a little stupid. But something about the densely wooded area has always drawn her in, and she’s backed away too many times to keep ignoring it. What’s more, she doesn’t want to ignore it. Something about the forest just feels right, like the feeling she gets when she’s chasing after lightning. She knows there’s more to the place than just little forest critters, having seen a pair of eyes gazing solemnly back at her more than once. They seemed so intelligent, so piercing, she couldn’t have imagined it herself. So she sets off in her rattiest jeans and the mimimum equipment to survive several hours in the forest. But what she may find is definitely beyond her expectations.

Mercy Lewis leaves Kira absolutely dumbfounded with every encounter. It’s amazing and absolutely befuddling, considering half of the time the curly-haired girl doesn’t even do much to earn the reaction. The only thing Kira is absolutely certain of is that she wants them to be friends. She will start small. She can’t follow the girl, that’d be creepy. And blatantly asking to be friends would be childish. They aren’t elementary schoolers anymore. She can, if she tries hard enough, start a real conversation, ask to meet again or even ask for her number. She’ll do things normally, she won’t rush, and she won’t chicken out like she usually does. It’s simple, and might even seem sad, making her first friend as a junior in high school. But it’s the one specific goal she has for herself (save graduating, which is a do or die thing for Kira), so she has to see it through.

I really want her first act of self-assertion to come from standing up to Jeremy, but their relationship blurb only mentions the one encounter, so that’s a tentative plot idea. Another tentative one is becoming involved in the supernatural drama going around town, but I think it would be best to wait until she’s developed other relationships to plan that one.

⤜ Para sample:

(Retained for privacy.)

⤜ Would you like to be considered for another character if not accepted as your primary choice? (If yes, name the character.)  Malia Tate?

⤜ Have you read the rules?: Yes

⤜ Anything else?

Nothing!

[free-mormons-blog]

Treasures in the Heavens -- Old Testament and Related Studies -- HUGH NIBLEY 1986

Treasures in the Heavens

As Christianity has been deeschatologized and demythologized in our own day, so in the Fourth Century it was thoroughly dematerialized, and ever since then anything smacking of “cosmism,” that is, tending to associate religion with the physical universe in any way, has been instantly condemned by Christian and Jewish clergy alike as paganism and blasphemy. Joseph Smith was taken to task for the crude literalism of his religion—not only talking with angels like regular people, but giving God the aspect attributed to him by the primitive prophets of Israel, and, strangest of all, unhesitatingly bringing other worlds and universes into the picture. Well, some of the early Christian and Jewish writers did the same thing; this weakness in them has been explained away as a Gnostic aberration, and yet today there is a marked tendency in all the churches to support the usual bloodless abstractions and stereotyped moral sermons with a touch of apocalyptic realism, which indeed now supplies the main appeal of some of the most sensationally successful evangelists.

Over a century ago, J. P. Migne argued that the medieval legends of the Saints were far less prone to mislead the faithful than those scientifically oriented apocrypha of the Early Church, since the former were the transparent inventions of popular fantasy that could never lead thinking people astray, while the latter by their air of factual reporting and claims to scientific plausibility led the early Christians into all manner of extravagant speculation, drawing the faithful astray in many directions. To appreciate the strength of their own position, Latter-day Saints should not be without some knowledge of both these traditions. Since the “cosmist” doctrines have been almost completely neglected, here we offer a look at some of them.

The canonical writings and the Apocrypha have a good deal to say about “treasures in the heavens.” If we compare the “treasures” passages in a wide sampling of these writings, including those of Qumran, Nag Hammadi and the Mandaeans, it becomes apparent that “treasures in the heavens” is a part of a much larger picture, a “cosmist” view of the plan of salvation that was rejected by the official Christianity and Judaism that emerged triumphant in the Fourth Century but seems to have been prevalent throughout the Near East in an earlier period. There is no better approach to the study of this strange and intriguing doctrine than an examination of the Treasures in Heaven. We begin with the surprising fact that the Treasures in the Heavens were not allegorical but real.

That the life-giving treasures of the earth, particularly the golden grain that was anciently kept in a sacred bin, really comes from the sky is apparent to everyone.1 The miracle of the bounties of heaven literally pouring from “the treasure-houses of the snow, . . . the terrible store-houses” is an awesome sight and a joyous one. 2 But without a benign intelligence to administer them, the same elements that bestow life on man can wreak frightful destruction; hence it is plain that a measure of knowledge, skill, and benevolence is necessary to convert the raw elements into useful gifts.3 Thus when one speaks of treasures in the heavens, one means not only the vast secret chambers of the rain, snow, and hail, but also the deep hidden wisdom and the power necessary to control them; God’s treasury is a source not only of the elements that sustain life but also of the light and knowledge that endow them with that power.4

The life-giving fusion of divine wisdom with primal element is often described in religious texts as a fountain, as “the overflowing waters which shine” coming from the “treasure-chest of radiance” along with all the other shining treasures.5 “Thou hast established every fountain of light beside Thee,” says Baruch, “and the treasures of wisdom beneath Thy throne hast Thou prepared.”6 The concept is more than a figure of speech; “the heavenly waters . . . important for life on earth,” to be effectively used, must be “gathered in and assigned . . . to particular treasurehouses.”7 We are introduced to that physical part of the heavenly treasure in a grandiose scene in which we behold a great council in heaven being held at the creation of the world; there God, enthroned in the midst of his heavenly hosts, explains the plan of creation to them8 and then opens his treasure chest before them to show them the wondrous store of stuff that is to be used in making a world;9 but the new world is still in a preliminary state, “like unripe fruit that does not know what it is to become.”10 It is not until we get to the doctors of the Church, wholly committed to the prevailing teachings of the schools, that we hear of creation ex nihilo.11 Before then, creation is depicted as a process of imposing form and order on chaotic matter: the world is created for the specific purpose of carrying out a specific plan, and the plan, like the creation itself, requires strict organization—all creatures have their work assigned them in the coming world, to be carried out at predetermined times and places.12 When the plan was announced to the assembled hosts, and the full scope and magnanimity of it dawned upon them, they burst into spontaneous shouts of joy and joined in a hymn of praise and thanksgiving, the Morning-song of Creation, which remains to this day the archetype of hymns, the great acclamatio, the primordial nucleus of all liturgy.13

The Creation drama, which is reflected in the great year-rites all over the ancient world, does not take place in a vacuum but “in the presence of God,” seated in the midst of “His holy ones” with whom he takes counsel, they being his mind and mouth on the occasion as he is theirs.14 Though the plan from first to last is entirely God’s own, he discusses it with others, “consulting the souls of the righteous before deciding to create the world,” not because he needs their advice, but because the plan concerns them and requires their maximum participation in it. The discussion was a lively one—apart from those rebellious angels who rejected it entirely, there was a general protest that the plan would be too painful for some parties and too risky for all; it was the generous voluntary offering of the Son of God that settled the question.15 Those who embrace the plan wholeheartedly on this earth are the Elect, “the people of the Plan,” chosen “from the foundation of the world”;16 they form on earth a community dedicated to “the faithful working out of God’s plan” in close cooperation with the heavenly hosts;17 they alone have access to the heavenly hidden treasure, because they alone covet and seek it.18

What most thrills the psalmist of Qumran as he sings of the bounteous fountain of God’s hidden treasures is the thought that he is not only a beneficiary of God’s plan, but was actually taken into his confidence in the making of it—he was there!19 When Clement of Alexandria recalls that “God knew us before the foundation of the world, and chose us for our faithfulness,” he is attesting a well-known teaching of the early Church.20 The recurring phrase “Blessed is he who is before he came into being” is not a paradox but refers to two states of being: 21 if (following Baruch) “we have by no means been from the beginning what we are now,” it does not follow that we did not exist, for it is equally true that “what we now are we shall not afterwards remain.” 22 We are dealing here not with existence and nonexistence but with a passing from one state to another, sometimes explained as a passing from one type of visibility to another.23 It is common to speak of the Creation as a renewing, 24 even as a reorganizing of old matter, nay as the building of a world from materials taken from the dismantling of older worlds.25 Preexistent man had been around a long time before it was decided to create this earth: the whole thing was produced, when the time came, for his benefit; and though he was created last of all to take it over, in his real nature he is older than any of it.26 He is the child of an earlier, spiritual birth or creation.27

Nothing could be more gratifying to the ego or consoling to the afflicted spirit of mortals than the secret intimation of a glorious past and an exalted parentage.28 The exciting foster-parent illusion was exploited by the Gnostics for all it was worth;29 but the idea was no invention of theirs: it was the thought of his preexistent glory that was Job’s real comfort—”Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth . . . when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” is not a rhetorical question. For it was the recollection of that same Creation-hymn of joy and their part in it that sustained the Sons of Light in the midst of terrible reverses.30 “If you could see your real image which came into being before you,” says a logion of Jesus, “then you would be willing to endure anything!”31 The author of the Thanksgiving Hymn is simply drunk with the idea of his own preexistent glory.32 Such glory, according to the Johannine writings, belongs not only to the Lord but to all who follow him.33

But why leave one’s heavenly home for a dismal earthly one? To that question, constantly reiterated in the Mandaean writings, the Gnostic answer was that we were forced to make the move as a punishment; but the “Treasure” doctrine was the very opposite—we are here as a reward, enjoying an opportunity to achieve yet greater things by being tried and tested, “that each one might be promoted, according to his intelligence and the perfections of his way, or be retarded according to his wrong-doings.”34 This is the well-known doctrine of the Two Ways: For this reason the world has existed through the ages, says the Clementine Recognitions, so that the spirits destined to come here might fulfill their number, and here make their choice between the upper and the lower worlds, both of which are represented here.35 In what has been regarded as the oldest ritual document in existence, the so-called Shabako Stone from Memphis, we find the concept full-blown: “To him who doeth good will be given Life and [of] Salvation [htp]. To him who doeth evil will be given the Death of the Condemned [criminal] . . . according to that decree, conceived in the heart and brought forth by the tongue, which shall be the measure of all things.” 36

The element of opposition necessary for such a test is provided by the adversary, who in the beginning openly mocked God’s plan and set up his own plan in opposition to it.37Being cast out of heaven with his followers by main force, he continues upon this earth during the set time allowed him by God’s plan (for the irony of his situation is that he is Mephistopheles, unwillingly if not unwittingly contributing to the operation of that plan), attempting to wreck the whole enterprise by drawing off as many spirits and as much material as possible into his own camp.38 The devil and his hosts claim the Treasure for their own and attempt to pirate the treasure ships that cruise between the worlds, using the loot in the outfitting of their own dark worlds.39 A neglected leitmotif of the New Testament is the continuation on earth of the personal feud between the Lord and the adversary begun at the foundation of the world: from the first each recognizes the other as his old opponent and rival;40 they are matched at every point—each claims identical gifts, ordinances, signs, and wonders; each has his doctrine and his glory and his plan for the future of the race. 41 Above all, each claims to possess the Treasure, the Lord promising treasures in the heavens while the adversary offers a clever, glittering earthly imitation: it is the choice between these treasures (for no man can have both) that is a man’s real test here upon the earth, determining his place hereafter.42 It is the “poor” who recognize and seek the true treasures, since they who are “rich as to the things of this world” have deliberately chosen the fraudulent imitation.43

In coming to earth each man leaves his particular treasure, or his share of the Treasure, behind him in heaven, safely kept in trust (“under God’s throne”) awaiting his return. 44One has here below the opportunity of enhancing one’s treasure in heaven by meritorious actions, and also the risk of losing it entirely by neglecting it in his search for earthly treasure.45 Hence the passionate appeals to men to remember their tremendous stake on the other side and “not to defraud themselves of the glory that awaits them” by seeking the things of the world.46 To make the “treasure” test a fair one, the two treasures are placed before us on an equal footing (the doctrine of the Two Ways), their two natures being mingled in exactly equal portions in every human being.47 To neutralize what would otherwise be the overpowering appeal of the heavenly treasure, the memory of its former glories has been erased from the mind of man, which is thus in a state of equilibrium, enjoying by “the ancient law of liberty” complete freedom to choose whatever it will.48 In this state, whatever choice is made represents the true heart and mind of the one who makes it. What conditions the Elect to make the right choice is no unfair advantage of instruction—for all men are aware of the issues involved—but a besetting nostalgia, a constant vague yearning for one’s distant treasure and happy heavenly home. This theme, akin to the Platonic doctrine of anamnesis, runs through all the Apocrypha and scriptures; it is beautifully expressed in the Hymn of the Pearl from the Acts of Thomas.

In this classic tale, a king’s son has come down to earth to find a pearl which he is to return to its heavenly depository; here below he becomes defiled with the things of the world until a letter from heaven, signed by all the Great and Mighty Ones, recalls to him his true heritage and his purpose in coming to earth, whereupon he casts off his earthly garments and with the pearl returns to the waiting arms of his loved ones in the royal courts on high and to his robe of glory that has been carefully kept for him in the Treasury.49 Our various “treasure” texts consistently refer to going to heaven as a return, a joyful homecoming, in which one follows the steps of Adam “back to the Treasury of Life from which he came forth.”50 A great deal is said about a garment that one changes in passing from one stage to another, the final garment of glory being often equated to the Treasure itself.51 This garment introduces us to the very important ritual aspect of the treasure story, for it is generally understood that one can return to one’s heavenly treasure only by the careful observance of certain rites and ordinances, which provide the means both of receiving instruction and demonstrating obedience.52 In the Mandaean economy the ordinances are the Treasure, the knowledge of the proper procedures being the very knowledge by which the elements are controlled and the spirit of man exalted.53 The other sectaries are hardly less concerned with ordinances, however, the paradox of Qumran being that a society that fled from the rites of the temple at Jerusalem should become completely engrossed in yet more rites and ordinances once it was in the desert.54 Moreover, the most elaborate of all discourses on the initiatory rites are those of the Coptic Christians. 55

As teacher and administrator of the ordinances, the priest holds the key to the spiritual Treasure House in which “the merit accruing from ceremonial worship is accumulated.”56 These ordinances, imported directly from that Treasury of Light to which they alone offer the means of return, are types of what is done above; through them “souls are led to the Treasury of Light. . . . Between us and the Great King of the Treasury of Light are many steps and veils,” and it is only by “giving the proper replies to the Guardians” that one is able to approach and finally enter the Treasury of Light.57 The ordinances are most secret (they are usually called “mysteries”), and it is through their scrupulous observance that every man “puts his own treasure in order.”58

The archetype whom all must follow in the ordinances as is Adam, whose true home is the “Treasury of Light,” and who belongs with all his children “to the Father who existed from the beginning.”59 The preexistent Adam, “the Adam of Light,” having descended to earth fell into a deep sleep, from which he awoke with his mind erased like that of a little child.60 He was thus in a state to undergo impartial testing, but in his new helplessness he needed instruction. This was provided by a special emissary from the Treasury of Light, the “Sent One.” The Sent One is often a commission of three, the “Three Great Men” who wakened Adam from his sleep and immediately set about teaching him what he should know and do in order to return to the House of Light from which he had come.61 The Sent One may be Michael, Gabriel, or the Lord himself, but whoever holds that office always has the same calling, namely to assist the souls of men to return to the Treasury of Light: when the Lord, as the supreme example of the Sent One, descends below to deliver the spirits that sit in darkness, they hail him as “Son of Glory, Son of Lights and of the Treasures.”62 Always a stranger on earth, recognized only by the “Poor,”63 the Sent One comes to bring a treasure, and indeed he is sometimes called the Treasure, for he alone brings the knowledge men must have to return to the Father of Lights.64 Letters sent from above to help men in their need—the prototype of those “Letters from Heaven” that have haunted Christian and Moslem society through the centuries—being directives or passports for getting to the Treasure House, if not written deeds to the Treasure itself (the scriptures are rated as such), are themselves among the Treasures of Heaven.65

While a treasure is anything precious and hidden, the early Christian idea of what was precious differed noticeably from the abstract and allegorical “spiritual” treasures of the philosophizing churchmen of a later time. The Patristic writers, trained in the schools, are offended and annoyed by the way in which many Christians cling to the old literalism of the Early Church.66 When primitive Christians thought of a treasure, it had to be something real and tangible; theirs was the tradition of the Jews before them, for whom the delights of the other world “though including spiritual and intellectual joys are most tangible delights of a completely pleasing physical and social environment.”67 Much has been written about early Christian and Jewish concepts of time, but where the other world is concerned, the ideas of space are at least equally important. With what care Luke tells us exactly where the angel stood in the temple and exactly where on the map he found Mary! What tireless comings and goings and what constant concern with being in one place or another fill the pages of the gospels! If we are not to think in terms of real time and place, why this persistent use of familiar words that suggest nothing else? Scholars have pointed out that it is impossible to take such formulaic expressions as “to visit the earth” and “he went and preached” (referring to the descensus) in any but the most literal sense.68 The insistence of our sources on depicting the hereafter in terms of “places” (topoi, the ma’man of the Dead Sea Scrolls) is a constant reminder that “heaven is not only a state but a place.”69 True, it is so far away that our sun “and all the world of men” look like nothing but a tiny speck of dust, “because of the vast distance at which it is removed”; but for all that it is still the same universe, and all made of the same basic materials.70

This preoccupation with locus assumes a plurality of worlds, and indeed in our “treasure” texts we often find worlds, earths, and kosmoses in the plural.71 It is only the fallen angels, in fact, led by the blind Samael, who insist: “We are alone, and there is none beside us”!72 To the Sons of Light, on the other hand, there is opened up the grandiose vision of the “worlds” united in the common knowledge of him who made them, exchanging joyful and affectionate messages as they “keep faith with one another” in the common plan and “talk to each other . . . and establish concord, each contributing something of its own” to the common interest.73 The members of the vast complex are kept in perfect accord by the sustaining Word of God, which reaches all alike, since it possesses “through the power of the Treasure” the capacity for traveling for unlimited distances with inexpressible speed. 74 This Word is also the Son, who “has betaken himself to the numberless hidden worlds which have come to know him.”75 The messages may also be borne by special messengers and inspectors, angels with special assignments and marvelous powers of getting around, who constantly go forth on their missions and return with their reports.76

With all its perfect unity and harmony, the system presents a scene not of monotonous uniformity but rather of endless and delightful variety: “They are all different one from the other, but He hath not made any one of them superfluous, the one exchangeth what is good, [in it] with the other.”77 At a new creation there is a reshuffling of elements, like the rearranging of notes in the musical scale to make a new composition;78 it is even suggested, as we have noted, that old worlds may be dismantled to supply stuff for the making of newer and better ones. 79

Beginning with the very old Egyptian idea, recently examined by E. A. E. Reymond, that the creation of the world was really a re-creation by “transforming substances” that had already been used in the creation of other worlds,80 the Jewish and Christian apocryphal writers envisage a process by which the stuff of worlds is alternately organized into new stars and planets, and when these have served their time, scrapped, decontaminated, and reused in yet more new worlds. This “Urstoff” that is being constantly recycled is the Tohuwabohu of some Jewish teachers, according to Weiss, who saw the ultimate forms of matter in fire and ice. 81 Likewise, according to the same authority, the world-holocaust of the Stoics was merely a necessary preparation for the making of new worlds from old materials. 82 The whole thrust of Weiss’s book is that until the early Christian apologists, we find no trace anywhere of a doctrine of creatio ex nihilo,83 the Creation being everywhere conceived of as the act of organizing “matter unorganized” (amorphos hyle), bringing order from disorder, the basic prerequisites for the work being space (chora) and unorganized matter.84

And so we have in the Pistis Sophia, continuing the Egyptian teachings, the picture of a constant remixing (kerasomos) going on in the universe in which old, wornout, contaminated substances, the refuse (sorm) of wornout worlds and kingdoms (247—250), is first thrown out on the scrap-heap and returned to chaos as “dead” matter (134, 41, 68), then melted down in a dissolving fire for many years (365f.), by which all the impurities are removed from it (249), and by which it is “improved” (41, 68), and is ready to be “poured from one kind of body into another” (251). This whole process by which souls as well as substances are “thrown back into the mixing” (14) is under the supervision of Melchizedek, the great reprocessor, purifier, and preparer of worlds (35f.). He takes over the refuse of defunct worlds or souls (36), and under his supervision five great Archons process (literally “knead”—ouoshm) it, separating out its different components, each one specializing in particular elements, which they thus recombine in unique and original combinations so that no new world or soul is exactly like any other (338).

In this full-blown pleniarism there is no waste and no shortage: “If any were superfluous or any lacking, the whole body would suffer, for the worlds counterpoise one another like the elements of a single organism.”85 The worlds go on forever: “They come and come and cease not, they ever increase and are multiplied, yet are not brought to an end nor do they decrease.”86

It was essential to the plan that all physical things should pass away; this idea is depicted by the ancient Egyptian symbol of the Uroboros, the serpent with his tail in his mouth, representing the frustration of material things or matter consuming itself by entropy. 87 Indeed, the Pistis Sophia describes the Uroboros (which means “feeding on its own tail”) in terms of the heat-death, when it reports that fire and ice are the end of all things, since ultimate heat and ultimate cold both mean an end to substance.88 Though matter is replaced through an endless cycle of creations and dissolution, only spirit retains conscious identity, so that strictly speaking “only progeny is immortal,” each “mounting up from world to world” acquiring ever more “treasure” while progressing toward His perfection, which awaits them all.89 When the apostles formed a prayer circle, “all clothed in garments of white linen,” Jesus, standing at the altar, began the prayer by facing the four directions and crying in an unknown tongue, “Iao, Iao, Iao!” The Pistis Sophia interprets the three letters of this word as signifying (1) Iota, because the universe took form at the Creation; (2) Alpha, because in the normal course of things it will revert to its original state, alpha representing a cycle; (3) Omega, because the story is not going to end there, since all things are tending towards a higher perfection, “the perfection of the perfection of everything is going to happen”—that is “syntropy.” (Pistis Sophia, 358.)

The eternal process is thus not a static one but requires endless expansion of the universe (p-sōr ebol mpterf) (193ff., 219, 225, etc.), since each dispensation is outgoing, tending to separation and emanation, that is, fissure (220), so that “an endless process in the Uncontainable fills the Boundless” (219). This is the Egyptian paradox of expanding circles of life that go on to fill the physical universe and then go on without end.90 Such a thing is possible because of a force that is primal and self-existent, having no dependence on other matter or its qualities. This is that “light-stream” that no power is able to hold down and no matter is able to control in any way. (Pistis Sophia, 227.) On the contrary, it is this light that imposes form and order on all else; it is the spark by which Melchizedek organizes new worlds (35); it is the light that purifies contaminated substances (388), and the light that enables dead matter to live (65; 134). Reduced to its simplest form, creation is the action of light upon matter (hyle) (64); matter of itself has no power, being burnt-out energy (65), but light reactivates it (134); matter is incapable of changing itself—it has no desire to, and so light forces it into the recycling process where it can again work upon it—for light is the organizing principle (50). If Melchizedek is in charge of organizing worlds, it is Michael and Gabriel who direct the outpouring of light to those parts of chaos where it is needed (130). As light emanates out into space in all directions it does not weaken but mysteriously increases more and more, not stopping as long as there is a space to fill. (129.) In each world is a gathering of light (“synergy”?), and as each is the product of a drive toward expansion, each becomes a source of new expansion, “having its part in the expansion of the universe.” (193ff.)

The mere mechanics of the creation process as described in our “treasure” texts display truly remarkable scientific insight. For the making of the world the first requirements, we are told, are a segment of empty space, pure and unencumbered,91 and a supply of primordial matter to work with.92 Mere empty space and inert matter are, however, forbidding and profitless things in themselves, disturbing and even dangerous things for humans to be involved with—contemplating them, the mind is seized with vertigo until some foothold is found in the void. 93 The order and stability of a foundation are achieved through the operation of a “Spark.” The Spark is sometimes defined as “a small idea” that comes forth from God and makes all the difference between what lives and what does not: “Compared with it all the worlds are but as a shadow, since it is the Spark whose light moves all [material] things.”94 It is the ultimate particle, the “ennas which came from the Father of those who are without beginning,” emanating from the Treasure House of Light from which all life and power is ultimately derived.95 Thanks to the vivifying and organizing power of the Spark, we find throughout the cosmos an infinity of dwelling-places (topoi), either occupied or awaiting tenants.96 These are colonized by migrants from previously established toposes or worlds, all going back ultimately to a single original center.97 The colonizing process is called “planting,” and those spirits that bring their treasures to a new world are called “Plants,” more rarely “seeds,” of their father or “Planter” in another world.98 Every planting goes out from a Treasure House, either as the essential material elements or as the colonizers themselves, who come from a sort of mustering-area called the “Treasure-house of Souls.”99

With its “planting” completed, a new world is in business, a new Treasury has been established from which new Sparks may go forth in all directions to start the process anew in ever new spaces;100 God wants every man to “plant a planting,” nay, “he has promised that those who keep his Law may also become creators of worlds.”101 But keeping the law requires following the divine pattern in every point; in taking the Treasure to a new world, the Sent One (who follows hard on the heels of the colonists) seeks nothing so much as complete identity with the One who sent him; hence, from first to last one mind alone dominates the whole boundless complex. Because each planting is completely dependent on its Treasure House or home base, the system never breaks up into independent systems; in this patriarchal order all remains forever identified with the Father from whom all ultimately come forth.102

We on earth are not aware of all this because we comprehend only what we are like.103 Not only is God rendered invisible by the impenetrable veil of light that surrounds him,104 but he has purposely “placed veils between the worlds,” that all treasures may be hid from those who do not seek them in the proper way.105 On the other side of the veil of the temple lay “the secrets of heaven,” the celestial spaces that know no bounds, and all that they contain.106 The wilon (veil) quarantines this polluted world mercifully from the rest.107 “Beyond the veil are the heavens,”108 and that goes for other worlds as well as this one, for each is shut off by its veil, for there are aeons and veils and firmaments: “He made a veil for their worlds, surrounding them like a wall.”109 Behind the ultimate veil sits Jeu, “the Father of the Treasury of Light,” who is separated from all others by the veils (katapetasmata), 110 a veil being that which separates that which is above from that which is below.111 When a cycle has been completed in the existence of things, “the Great Sabaoth the Good looks out” from behind the veil, and all that has gone before is dissolved and passes into oblivion.112 Only the qualified can pass by one of these veils, of course; when Pistis Sophia presumed to look behind the veil before she was ready, she promptly fell from her former glory.113 Only Jesus has passed through all the veils and all the degrees of glory and authority.114 As one grows in faith, more and more is revealed, until finally “the Watchers move the veils aside and you enter into the Presence of the Father, who gives you His name and His seal.”115

These veils seem to serve as protecting as well as confining fences around the worlds: The light of the sun in its true nature (morphe) is not seen in this place, we are told, because it passes through “many veils and regions (topoi)” before reaching us;116 its protective function is represented by a wonderful super-bird, called “the guardian of the inhabited earth,” because “by spreading out his wings he absorbs (dechetai) the fire-like (pyrimorphos) rays” of the sun; “if he did not receive [absorb] them, the human race could not survive, nor any other form of life.” On a wing of the bird is an inscription declaring, “Neither earth nor heaven begot me, but the wings of fire.” Baruch was informed by an angel that this bird is the phoenix, the sun-bird, which feeds on the manna of heaven and the dews of earth.117 It blocks the sun with its wings outspread, suggesting solar prominences or zodiacal light. At any rate, it is an interesting example of how the ancients explained things that most men cannot see or comprehend in terms of things they can.

The plan calls for universal participation in the accumulation of treasure in a course of eternal progression.118 The “Treasures in the Heavens” is heady stuff; E. L. Cherbonnier has observed that the discovery that man really belongs to the same family as God, “to share in the same kind of existence which God himself enjoys,” is “like learning that one has won the sweepstakes.”119 The Evangelium is good news—the only good news, in fact, since all else ends in nothing. But it is also news, the sort of thing, as C. S. Lewis points out, that no human being could possibly have invented. Granted that the Treasures in the Heavens are something totally alien to human experience, something that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man,” they must be nonetheless real.120 “For the plan of Salvation,” as E. Soggin has recently put it, “only exists when we are dealing with reality, not with artificial contrivances; . . . as Hesse notes, ‘We are only interested in what really took place, all the rest being of little or no concern whatever.'”121 Likewise the religion of Egypt “n’est pas une mystique, mais une physique,” as we are now discovering.122 This attitude, diametrically opposite to that of Christian and Jewish scholars (for example, C. Schmidt) in the past, is gaining ground today. The old literalism has been dismissed as Gnostic, and indeed much of the appeal of Gnosticism lay in its exploitation of certain “cosmist” aspects of early Christian teaching; but the basic teachings of Gnosticism and Neoplatonism were spiritualized concepts that followed the prevailing line of the schools and ran directly counter to the old literalism of the Treasures of Heaven.123

While our sources contain “extremely confused and contradictory records of creation,” all seem to betray “a single organic foundation.”124 And while the relationship between them all still remains to be established, it becomes clearer every day that there was a relationship.125 The “cosmist” idea is not the monopoly of any group, Gnostic or otherwise. Indeed, cosmism was essentially anti-Gnostic. 126 The doctors of the Christians and the Jews who adopted the Neoplatonic and Gnostic ideas of the schools opposed the old literalism with all their might, so that to this day cosmism has remained the very essence of heresy. 127 Still, the very fathers who opposed the old teaching admitted that it was the original faith of the Saints, and they could not rid themselves of it without a real struggle.128

In view of its age, its universality, its consistency, and its scientific and aesthetic appeal, the doctrine of the Treasures in the Heavens should be studied more closely than it has been. What we have presented in intensely concentrated form is enough to show that references to treasures in religious writings may well conceal far more than a mere figure of speech.

NOTES

* “Treasures in the Heavens: Some Early Christian Insight into the Organizing of the Worlds” was published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 8 (Autumn/Winter 1973): 76—98.

1. We have treated this theme in “Sparsiones,” Classical Journal 40 (1945): 515—43.

2. Secrets of Enoch 5:1; cf. 6:1; Jer. 51:16; Ps. 135:7; Job 38:22; 1 Enoch 18:1; Slavonic Enoch (in J.A.T. Robinson, Apocrypha Anecdota [Cambridge: 1897], II, p. 58); Pseudo-Philo 32:7 (in M. R. James, Antiquities of Philo [SPCK, 1917], 176). “Clouds of radiance drip moisture and life,” Psalms of Thomas 1:11 (A. Adam, in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft [hereinafter, ZNTW], Beih. No. 24 [1959], 2); text in A Manichaean Psalm-Book (Stuttgart: 1938), pp. 203—28. On the heavens as a general storehouse and treasure house, K. Ahrens, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (hereinafter, “ZDMG“) 84 (1930): 163, discussing Koran 15:21; cf. Ben Sirach 43:14ff. In the Enuma Elish, Tab. 7:8, God’s “treasure is the abundance which is poured out over all.” On the relevance of this source, see W. Bousset, Hauptprobleme der Gnosis (Göttingen: 1907), p. 246.

3. They are “for a blessing or a curse as the Lord of Spirits willeth.” (1 Enoch 59:1ff.; 60:22.) They must undergo a transformation to be useful to man. (Deut. 28:12; 1 Enoch 18:2; 60:15, 21—22; 3 Baruch 10:9—10.) They may serve “against the day of battle and war” (Job 38:22—23), for unless benignly restrained they are dark and destructive. (J. A. T. Robinson, Apocrypha Anecdota; cf. Odes Sol. 16:15—17; Pseudo-Philo 15:5).

4. “I am the Treasure of Life who descended upon the King of Glory, so that he was radiant in his understanding,” M. Lidzbarski. (Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer [hereinafter, “Johannesbuch der Mand.”] [Giessen: 1905], p. 203, no. 57.) God holds the keys to control and administer the treasure (K. Ahrens, in ZDMG 84 [1930]: 163); he restrains the elements as by a dam. (1 Enoch 60:1ff.), keeping them “sealed up” (Pseudo-Philo 13:6—10) in places of peace and order. (1 Baruch 3:12—15). His treasury is a shrine of wisdom. (Jer. 51:15—16.) For the Mandaeans, treasure means “capability, ability, worthiness.” (E. S. Drower, The Thousand and Twelve Questions [hereinafter, “1012 Questions“] [Berlin: Akad-Verlag, 1960], p. 117, n. 8.) An impressive treatment of the theme is in the Thanksgiving Hymns (hereinafter, “IQH”), especially 1, 3, 10—11, and 14.

5. Quotation is from E. S. Drower, A Pair of Nasoraean Commentaries (hereinafter, “Nasoraean Commentaries“) (Leiden: Brill, 1963), p. 69, n. 1; cf. 2 Baruch 54:13; Odes Sol. 4:10. The treasure is a fountain. (Cf. Prov. 8:24.) He has “a multitude of waters in the heavens.” (Jer. 51:16.) The source of all earthly treasure is a pool in heaven. (3 Baruch 10:1—10.) The “treasures of glory” are the clouds and earthly fountains, says the Battle Scroll (hereinafter, “IQM”) 10:12, the latter being fed by the former. (Pseudo-Philo 19:10; cf. N. Sed, “Une Cosmologie juive du haut moyen-age,” in Revue des Etudes Juives 124 [1965], 64—65.) In the treasuries of the heavens are “the living waters” (1 Enoch 17:5); blessings pour from “the holy dwelling and the eternal fountain that never deceives” (IQSb [Isaiah Scroll—Hebrew University] 1:3); this is also temple imagery (1 Enoch 39:5). God’s creative intelligence is “a strong fountain” (IQH 12:11); Pindar, Olympian Odes 1:1ff.; 3:65ff.; and Aeschylus, Persians, II. 234—47, 405; 1207—18, equate the life-giving gold and silver of the divine treasurehouse of oracular wisdom with golden grain and silver fountains. The light of the treasure is also a stream. (Pistis Sophia 65 [132—33]). The creative process is an ever-flowing Jordan of Light. (M. Lidzbarski, Ginza [Göttingen: 1925], pp. 61—63, 67.)

6. 2 Baruch 54:13.

7. K. Koch, “Wort und Einheit des Schöpfergottes im Memphis und Jerusalem,” Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche (hereinafter, “ZThK“) 62 (1965): 276. This is one of many recent studies pointing out the relevance and importance of early Egyptian texts for the study of Jewish and Christian concepts. So. L. V. Zabkar, Journal of Near Eastern Studies (hereinafter, “JNES“) 13 (1954): 87; R. Anthes, JNES 18 (1959): 169—212; L. Speleers, Les Textes des Cercueils (Brussels: 1946), p. 28. The five stoicheia “gush forth” from the five treasurehouses. (Manichäische Handschriften der Staatl. Museen Berlin [hereinafter, “Berlin Manich. Hs.”] [Stuttgart: 1940] 1:30.)

8. Such a scene is depicted in the archaic text of the so-called Shabako stone (K. Sethe, Das ‘Denkmal Memphitischer Theologie,’ der Schabakostein des Britischen Museums [Leipzig: 1928], pp. 23—32, 60—70); in the Pyramid Texts (Louis Speleers, Brussels: 1923—24), e.g., No. 468 (895); and Coffin Texts (A. de Buck, ed., Univ. of Chicago: 1938), e.g. no. 39 (166—67); in Enuma Elish, Tab. 3:132—38; 4:6. On the general Near Eastern background of the Council in Heaven, see F. M. Cross, JNES 12 (1953): 274—77; H. W. Robinson, Journal of Theological Studies (hereinafter, “JTS“) 45 (1944): 151—57. On the presentation of the plan, see J. Fichtner, Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (hereinafter, “ZATW“) 63 (1951): 16—33. The scene is presented in the Serekh Scroll (or Manual of Discipline; hereinafter, “IQS”) 10:1ff.; Ben Sirach 17:11—12; 1012 Questions, p. 112.

9. Thus in the Shabako stone (see above, note 8) as rendered by J. Breasted, The Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (London: 1912), p. 46: “Then he assembled all the gods and their kas [saying to them]: ‘Come ye and take possession of the Meb-towe, the divine store-house . . . whence is furnished the Life of the Two Lands.'” Cf. Pindar, Pythian Odes 11:5: “Come to the hidden Melian treasury of the golden tripods, . . . the storehouse of true counsels, where the host of heroes assembles.” Cf. Jer. 10:12—13; 4 Ezra 8:20—21; Ben Sirach 39:12—17; IQH 1:10; 13:1; IQS 10:1—2; Odes Sol. 15 and 16; 19:1ff.; Acts of Thomas, ch. 136 (A. F. J. Klijn, The Acts of Thomas [Leiden: Brill, 1962], p. 137); Psalms of Thomas 1:7—14; the Second Gnostic Work, 39a (C. Schmidt, Texte u. Untersuchungen [hereinafter “TU“], 8 [1892]: 254, 301). At the great council in heaven the Son said to the father: “If it please Thee . . . speak, open Thy treasury, and take therefrom a boon,” the boon being the plan of salvation. (Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, No. 250, in E. S. Drower, The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans [hereinafter “CPM“] [Leiden: Brill, 1959], p. 207); the scene is also described on pages 225 (No. 318), 227 (No. 321), 228 (No. 323), 252 (No. 358, cf. 365—68), 269 (No. 375), 271ff. (No. 376). There is a dramatic description of the opening of the chest in the Alma Rishaia Zuta 3:199ff. (in E. Drower, Nasoraean Commentaries, p. 69). So Ginza, p. 493. There are five treasuries of the senses; when the mind (enthymesis) wants to create, it opens the appropriate treasure chest to get the things it needs (Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:138—40), the things being the elements in an unformed state (ibid., p. 54). Though they were later corrupted by mixture with a lower state of matter or ground-substance, the physical elements are in themselves pure and holy (ibid., p. 239); in their corrupt earthly form they are gold, silver, copper, lead, and tin (ibid., p. 33). God also opens a treasure chest to bring forth healing elements for man. (Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 46.)

10. Gospel of Truth (M. Malinine et al., Evangelium Veritatis [Zürich: 1956], fol. XIVv, 5—7.) Smoke, fire, wind, and water were the chaotic contents of the divine storehouse. (Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 9.) In Ginza, p. 259, there is a leavening substance, a “Sauerteig der Welt,” kept in the divine treasure house, and from this the world and the planets are created, as higher worlds are created of a like substance (p. 261). God furnishes “the whole creation” from “the treasuries of all the winds” (1 Enoch 18:1), which are in the midst of “secret things” amidst mountains of precious stones and minerals (ibid. 52:5). On wind as the “Urstoff,” see Coffin Texts, Spell 162, II, 401; on water, see W. Lambert, JTS 16 (1965): 293.

11. For a thorough treatment, see H. F. Weiss, Untersuchungen zur Kosmologie des hellenistischen und Palästinischen Judentums (Berlin: Akad.-Verlag, 1966), pp. 59—74, and notes 81—84, below; see also W. Richter, “Urgeschichte und Hoftheologie,” Biblische Zeitschrift (hereinafter “BZ“), NF 10 (1966): 97; H. A. Brongers, De Scheppingstradities bij de Profeten (Amsterdam: 1945), pp. 3—18.

12. The idea is carried over into the widespread ritual dramatizations of the Creation, whose essence is the strict regulation of persons, times, and places. (S. Mowinckel, Religion und Kultus [Göttingen: 1953], pp. 53—59; see esp. Pistis Sophia 128—135 [pp. 325—57]).

13. This is an unfailing part of the picture: the Hallelujah chorus with its refrain of “Forever and ever!” is the closing section of almost any ritual text. See W. F. Otto, Die Musen und der göttlichen Ursprung des Singens und Sagens (Düsseldorf-Köln: E. Diederich, 1956); H. Nibley, “The Expanding Gospel,” BYU Studies 7 (1965): 3—27.

14. K. Koch, in ZThK 62 (1965): 271, 281—82, shows that the “creative word of God” originally refers to a conversation, a discussion with others. The Egyptian concept is discussed by H. Junker, Die Götterlehre von Memphis (Berlin: Akad. d. Wiss., 1940), pp. 36—37, 42, 55; the holy ones are “as it were extensions of the Great God.” (H. Grapow, Das 17. Kapitel des aeg. Totenbuches [Berlin: 1912], p. 40.) See above, notes 8 and 9. May not the logos of John 1 also be a “council” discussion?

15. Quotation from D. Winston, in History of Religions 5 (1966): 212, citing Jewish and Persian sources. It was a real discussion, in which many divergent views were expressed, as described in Timothy Archbishop of Alexandria, Discourse on Abbaton (hereinafter “Abp. Timothy on Abbaton”) fol. 10a—12a (in E. A. W. Budge, Coptic Martyrdoms [Br. Mus.: 1914], pp. 232—34); Ginza, pp. 331—33; Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 361 (CPM, 255); Alma Rishaia Zuta 3:215ff. (in E. Drower, Nasoraean Commentaries, pp. 67, 70); Alma Rishaia Rba 4:150ff. (in E. Drower, Nasoraean Commentaries, p. 7).

16. IQM 12:2—3; IQSa (Isaiah Scroll—St. Marks) 1:1ff. The world was created on their behalf. (Ascension of Moses 1:12; 4 Ezra 9:13—14.) All the elect were known and the kingdom with “the riches of his glory” (i.e., the treasure) appointed to them “from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:34, 41; Rom. 9:23; Odes Sol. 23:1—3; Psalms of Solomon 7:30; Didache 10:3; Test. Dom. nostri J. Christi [J. E. Rahmani, ed.; Mainz: 1899], p. 25.) They are the pearls in the treasure house of Life. (Ginza, pp. 590—91.) They alone share the secrets of the treasure. (Ibid., p. 296; cf. IQH 17:9.)

17. IQM 13:2; 7:6; 15:13; IQSa (Isaiah Scroll—St. Marks) 2:8—9, 14—15, 20; IQH 3:20—21. Every major event in the New Testament is marked by the presence on the scene of heavenly beings participating with the Saints in the activities.

18. IQM 5:10; Clementine Recognitions 3:53—54, 58; 5:5—7; Oxyrhynchus Frg., No. 654:5ff.; Gospel of Thomas 80:14—18; 94:14ff.; 19:1ff.; Gospel of Truth, fol. IXr, 2—4; Lactantius, Div. Inst. 4:2. “The Chosen people alone understand what the others have rejected.” (K. Koch, ZThK 62 [1965]: 292.)

19. IQH 1:21; 2:7, 13, 17; 3:19ff.; 4:27; 5:25; 6:10—11; 7:26—30; 10:4, 14ff., 22ff., 29; 11:4—8, 10; 27—28; 12:11—12; 13:18—19; 15:21—22; cf. IQS 11:6—7; 9:16—18; Isa. 45:3; Matt. 11:25ff.; Rom. 11:33, 12; Eph. 3:8—9; Col. 1:26—27; 2:2—3; Phil. 4:19; Ep. Barnab. 6; Odes Sol. 11:4—5; Gospel of Truth, fol. XVIr, 17; Test. Dom. nostri J. Christi 43 (Rahmani, 103); Ben Sirach 17:11—13; Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 120, 126. “In a certain way, election is pre-existence,” writes J. Zandee in Numen 11 (1964): 46, citing Logion No. 49 of the Gospel of Thomas. Not only the Son of Man but Isaac, Jacob, Jeremiah, the Twelve Apostles, Peter, etc., are specifically said to have been chosen and set apart in the preexistence.

20. Clement of Alexandria, Paedagog., 1, 7 (in Migne, Patrologiae Gracae [hereinafter “PG“] 8:321), citing Jer. 1:7, 5; cf. Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:20. The awards and assignments handed out at the Creation must have been earned in a preexistent life. (Origen, De princip., I, 8:4; II, 9:6—8; cf. Zadokite Document 2:7; IQS 1:7; 3:15; 4:22.)

21. The expression occurs in Gospel of Thomas 84:17; Gospel of Philip 112:10; cf. Secrets of Enoch 23:4—6; IQH 1:19; 13:8; Odes Sol. 7:11.

22. 2 Baruch 21:16; cf. Gospel of Philip 112:10: “For he who is both was and shall be.” “By not yet existing, I do not mean that they do not exist at all.” (Gospel of Truth, fol. XIVv, 22—23.) The formula “out of the eternities and into the eternities” is found in IQS 2:1 and indicates an endless past as well as an endless future for man, “for Thou didst establish them before eternity.” (IQH 13:8.) “When he prepared the heavens I was there. . . . Then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight.” (Prov. 8:27, 30; see H. Donner, Aegypt. Zeitschr. 81 [1956]: 8—18, for Egyptian parallels.)

23. With a new creation, things become visible on a new level. (Secrets of Enoch 24:5—25:1; 24:2; 30:10—11; 65; 2 Baruch 51:8.) This is consistent with the doctrine that one sees or comprehends only what one is like. (See below, note 103.) In the Genesis creation hymn, “everything is as it were created twice, in two different ways.” (J. B. Bauer, Theol. Zeitschr. 20 [1964]: 7.) Albright has shown that “in the beginning” does not refer to an absolute beginning but to the start of a new phase in a going concern. (Ibid., p. 1.) Ex ouk onton refers to such a phase rather than to creation ex nihilo. (W. Richter, BZ, NF 10 (1966): 97, citing 2 Macc. 7:28 and Homil. Clem. 19:4, 9, 16, 18.)

24. The concept of Gen. 1 and Ps. 94 and 104 is the same as the old Egyptian idea that the Creation was the beginning of a new cycle of time following a different kind of age. (K. Koch, ZThK 62 [1965]: 257.) At the Creation, God showed his children “what they did not know before, creating new things and abolishing old agreements, to establish that which should be eternally.” (IQH 13:10—12; Ben Sirach 36:6—8.) Passing from one life to another is a renewal (IQH 11:12ff.); one’s existence does not begin with the womb, though a new life begins there (IQH 15:12—15; Apocalypse of Adam 78:1). When the “treasury of the heavenly King is opened” the Saints become heirs to a new kingdom by a renewal of the mind. (Acts of Thomas, ch. 136.) To become a Christian is to accept a new creation. (Epist. to Diognetus 11.)

25. See below, note 79. The Egyptians taught that a creation was the reuniting of existing things in new forms. (R. Anthes, Aegypt. Zeitschr. 82 [1957]: 3.) Untamed chaotic matter is represented as a raging beast, e.g., Pistis Sophia 54 (104); 55 (105); when the beast is subdued, an orderly world is composed of its substance. (Ibid., 70 [154].) Can this be the origin of the common tradition of creation from the body of some slain monster?

26. Clementine Recognitions 1:28. So Ginza, pp. 506, 508—10, 438. The spirits are equal in age but not in power and glory, in which they compare as fathers to sons, without any rivalry or jealousy. (Sophia Christi 97:2ff.)

27. Every man has a dmuta—”likeness, counterpart, image”—which is the “spiritual or ideal counterpart or double. (1012 Questions, p. 11); it is “the pre-existent pneumatic part of man” (Ibid., pp. 122, n. 5; 161; 173, n. 3). Thus Paul (in the Apocalypsis Pauli 18:22ff.) and Tobit (in an Aramaic text of Tobit from Qumran) both see their spiritual doubles. In the remarkable Vision of Kenaz, in the Pseudo-Philo 28:8, that early prophet sees the spirits of men walking about in another spirit world while waiting for this world to be created. This is the Mandaean “Ether-Earth.” (Mandaean Prayerbook [CPM, p. 290, n. 4].) Before the creation of the world, “the souls still sat in the Kanna, without pain and without defect.” (Johannesbuch der Mand., 55, No. 13.) All creatures are double. (Pastor Hermae, II [Mand., 8], 1), and all souls existed before the formation of the world (Secrets of Enoch 23:5). The related Platonic doctrine “became a prevailing dogma in later Judaism,” according to R. H. Charles. (Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament [Oxford: 1913], II, 444, n. 5.)

28. “God has shed upon man the splendor of his glory at the creation of all things.” (IQH 16:9; 7:24ff.; Secrets of Enoch 24:1—5; 22:8B; Odes Sol. 28:14—15; 41; 24:5; 36:3—5; Gospel of Thomas 90:2; Gospel of Philip 112:12, 14—15; The Nature of the Archons 144:20 [in Theologische Literaturzeitung, 83 (1958), 668]; Pastor Hermae, Simil. 1:1; Mandaean texts cited by R. Bultmann, “Die neuerschlossenen mandäischen Quellen . . . ,” ZNTW 24 [1925]: 108—9.) One is awed by the thought that this thing of wet dust once “praised amongst the praising ones . . . [was] great . . . amongst the mighty ones.” (Odes Sol. 36:4; IQS 11:20—22; IQSb [Isaiah Scroll—Hebrew University] 3:28.) To know one’s true identity is the great treasure. (Gospel of Thomas 80:26; 81:3—4; 87:1—2.) “I am a Son and come out of the Father . . . descended from the pre-existing Father,” etc. (Apocryphon of James 1:333, 15—16.)

29. Thus a fragment from Turfan, cited by Bultmann, p. 126: “I come from the light as one of the gods, and here I have become a stranger.” With characteristic vanity, the Gnostics reserved such glory for themselves alone. (Irenaeus, adv. Haeres., I, 6; cf. Odes Sol. 41:8; The Pearl 11, 31—44, 56.)

30. Job 38:3—7, 21. This last is not stated as a question in the Masoretic Text, but as a flat declaration (IQM 17:20—27); “. . . peace was prepared for you before ever your war was,” and God will not take back the promises made at the Creation. (Odes Sol. 4:12—14.)

31. Gospel of Thomas, Log. 84. When Adam complained of his hard lot on earth, a heavenly messenger shamed him by reminding him of the throne awaiting him in heaven. (Johannesbuch der Mand., 57, No. 13.) “Endure much; then you will soon see your treasure!” (Ginza, p. 493; cf. Apocryphon of John 20:19—22; 7.)

32. E.g., IQH 3:22; 7:32; 10:1ff., and above, note 19; cf. Acts 1:23, 26.

33. Those who will go to heaven are they who came from there in the first place. (John 3:13.) They recognize the Lord on earth even as they once acclaimed him above. (John 17:8, 10—12.)

34. Justin Martyr, Apol., 1:10, 59; 2:4—5, 7. So Zadokite Frg. 2:3—6. “When you lay your hand on the treasure the soul enters the scales that will test her.” (Alma Rishaia Rba [in E. Drower, Nasoraean Commentaries, pp. 44—46].) Only when you have overcome here “is your name called out from the Book of Those Who Were Valiant, and you become the heir to our Kingdom.” (The Pearl 46—48.) For the reward aspect, see Origen, De princ., I, 8:4; II, 9:6—8; cf. Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 4, 58, on this “world of testing.”

35. Clementine Recognitions 1:24.

36. K. Sethe, Das ‘Denkmal Memphitischer Theologie’ der Schabakostein des Britischen Museums (Leipzig: 1928), I, 64—65.

37. A specific counterplan is mentioned in Clementine Recognitions 3:61; cf. IQH 13:4; IQS 2:4ff.; 4QFlor. 1:8; Gospel of Philip 123:2ff.; 103:14ff.; Apocryphon of John 74:1ff.; 36:16ff.; 72:10ff.; Sophia Christi 122:1ff. There are those in the Church who preach the doctrine of the Serpent, according to the Pseudo-Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians in Bodmer Papyrus 10:54:15, describing his ambitious opposition to God’s plan in the beginning. (Ibid. 10:53:11—15.)

38. “Now the Prince, not being righteous and wanting to be God . . . enchains all the flesh of men.” (Bodmer Papyrus, 10:53.) So Irenaeus, adv. Haer., 5:25; Creation Apocryphon 151:11ff. (in A. Bohlig u. P. Labib, Die Koptisch-Gnostische Schrift ohne Titel aus Cod. II von Nag Hammadi [Berlin: Akad.-Verlag, 1962], pp. 48—49); 155:25ff.; 150:27, 35; 151:3, 7, 15, 18, 24; 154:19ff., 14—15; 156:1; Psalms of Thomas 2:1—2; 1:30—37, 22—25, 43—47; 7:1—3; Test. Dom. nostri J. Christi 23:43, Acts of Thomas (A. J. Klijn) 204:22—25; Book of John the Evangelist (ed. M. R. James), pp. 187—89; Vita Adae et Evae 15:3; 16:1, 4 (in R. H. Charles, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, p. 137); hypostasis of the Archons 134:9 (after Isa. 46:9); 140:26; 141:1; Abp. Timothy on Abbaton, fol. XIIIa; Pseudo-Philo 34:2—3; Sibylline Oracles 3:105ff. (in Charles, 381); Ascension of Isaiah 2:1—9; 7:3—5, 9—10, 15; Secrets of Enoch 10:1—6; 31A:3—5; Johannesbuch der Mand., 3 (14—15, 17ff.), No. 2; Alma Rishaia Zuta 3:215ff. (in E. Drower, Nasoraean Commentaries, p. 70); Ginza, pp. 18, 263.

39. When God sent forth a ship of light “laden with the riches of the Living,” Satan and his pirate crew coming “I know not from where” seized “the treasure of the Mighty One” and “distributed it among their worlds,” until they were forced to give it up. (Psalms of Thomas 3:1—15, 29—32, 35; Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 53, 163, 178; cf. the image of the three ships, Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:50; Psalms of Thomas 12:1—13.) The Second Coptic Work 14a (ed. C. Schmidt, in TU 8:236, 286) has Christ coming out of the monas of Setheus “like a ship laden with all manner of precious things,” so also the Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 151—152, 168, 171, 174; in the Johannesbuch der Mand. 206, No. 58, a ship moves between the worlds bearing the glory of the Treasure of Life from one to the other. In the Egyptian Victory Over Seth 1:19—22, the god passes through dangerous straits in his ship while Seth and his robber band try to waylay him. (In the Book of the Dead, the battle of the gods takes place on board a ship [H. Grapow, Das 17. Kapitel des Totenbuches, p. 37].) When Adam returns to “the Treasure of Life,” he is asked by the guardians “what wares he is bringing in his ship.” (J. Leipoldt, Religionsgeschichte des Orients [Leiden: Brill, 1961], pp. 86—87). In numerous Acts of Thomas, the Captain of the ship or the rich merchant is Christ in disguise, e.g., A. Klijn, Acts of Thomas 2—3. The same commercial imagery of the ship appears in the Johannesbuch der Mand., 84—86, No. 20—21; cf. Ginza, p. 324. The seven planets are described as floating ships (Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 286 [CPM, p. 288]); these seven try to rob man of his treasure (Psalms of Thomas 5:4 [in ZNTW, Beih. 24 (1959): 123]); 1012 Questions, pp. 251, 258. The Ark itself was not a ship but a luminous cloud in space, according to the Apocryphon of John 73:5—12.

40. Mark 5:5ff.; Luke 4:34—35. The recognition is mutual. (Luke 4:41; 8:27—28; 10:17—18.) The contest is continued in the desert (Matt. 4:1), with Satan still claiming the rule and challenging the Lord’s title (Matt. 4:10, 3). The war we wage here (Eph. 6:12) is a continuation of the conflict in the beginning. (Hypostasis of the Archons 134:20). Those who follow either leader here, followed the same there. (John 8:44, 7; Odes Sol. 24:5—9.)

41. Apocryphon of James 53:12ff. (the gifts); Apocryphon of Adam 85:1—2 (ordinances); 1012 Questions, II, 3b, 86 (226—27) (signs); 2 Thes. 2:9 (wonders); Bodmer Papyrus 10:54 (doctrine); Apocalypse of Elias 1:8ff. (glory); they are even rival fishermen (Logion, No. 174, in M. Osin et Palacias, “Logia et agrapha D. Jesu,” Patrologia Orientalis [hereinafter “PO“] 19:574).

42. Matt. 6:19—21; 13:10ff.; 19:21, 29; Mark 10:21; 12:41ff.; Luke 18:21—22; 12:21, 32; Rom. 2:5; 1 Tim. 6:17—19; Jer. 48:7; Ben Sirach 5:2. Many Logia deal with the theme. (M. A. Palacias, “Logia et agrapha,” Nos. 13—14, 34, 42, 44, 50, 53—55, 77 [in Graffin, PO 13:357ff.].) So the Gospel of Thomas, 37, 137, 147; Apocalypse of Elias 8:12—13; Psalms of Thomas 1:17—19; Apocryphon of James 2:53; Acts of Thomas 37, 137, 147; Gospel of Thomas 85:6ff.; 86:24—29; 92; 94:14—22; 95:15; 98:31—99:4; Slavonic Adam and Eve 33:1ff. It is important not to confuse the treasure or to falsify. (Ginza, pp. 19, 40, 123—24, 334, 394, 433; cf. Pistis Sophia 100 [249—51]; Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:223, 228—29; Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 75, 79, 82.)

43. Hence the paradox that the “poor” are the rich. (Epist. to Diognetus 5; Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 157.) See below, note 45.

44. Treasures now “prepared” and awaiting the righteous on the other side ( Mark 10:40; Gospel of Truth, fol. XXIv, 11—17) can be claimed only by meeting certain stipulations (Gospel of Philip 108:1ff.). All treasures are held in trust, “dedicated” (1 Chron. 26:20; Pseudo-Philo 21:3), and will be handed over when the time comes (1 Enoch 51:1). The righteous “without fear leave this world,” because they have with God “a store of works preserved in treasuries.” (2 Baruch 14:12; 24:1.) Whatever part of the Treasure we enjoy on earth is not ours but has only been entrusted to our keeping. (1012 Questions, I, i; 111—12; 122—23.) On the “treasury of good works” as an old Oriental doctrine, see K. Ahrens, ZDMG 84 (1930): 163. One’s good works will lead to future rewards and recompense, says Ignatius, Epist. ad Polycarp 6. The Christian (Manichaean) and Chinese versions are compared by A. Adam, in J. Leipoldt, Religionsgeschichte des Orients, p. 109; for the Iranian version, see D. Winston, in History of Religions 5 (1966): 194—95, who also mentions concealing the treasure under God’s throne (p. 212), to which parallels are supplied by 2 Baruch 54:13; Ginza, p. 281; the Shabako Stone, line 61; and the Ark of the Covenant “under the feet of the statue of God,” W. H. Irwin, Revue Biblique 72 (1965): 164. This is the theme of The Pearl.

45. Matt. 25:14—29. The rich man is welcome to his treasures on earth but cannot claim treasures in heaven. (Matt. 19:21, 24; 6:19—20; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:22; 12:33—34; 2 Baruch 44:13—15; Secrets of Enoch 1:5; Gospel of Thomas 88:34—35; 89:1ff.; Acts of Thomas 146; 1012 Questions, II, iv, 159 [245].) It is a Jewish, Christian, and Mandaean tradition that earthly prayers are laid up in God’s treasure-house. (Johannesbuch der Mand., 10, n. 2; Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 379 [CPM, 293].) If a righteous one strays, “his treasure will be taken from him.” (Alma Rishaia Zuta, 1 [in E. Drower, Nasoraean Commentaries, p. 55]; Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:73.)

46. Apocalypsis Pauli, 19 (text in Orientalia 2 [1933]: 22); cf. 2 Baruch 52:7; 1012 Questions, vib, 379 (279).

47. IQS 4:16—18. This is an “Abbild” of the cosmic struggle. (J. Schreiner, in BZ, NF 9 (1965): 180; J. M. Allegro, in Jnl. of Semit. Stud. 9 (1964): 291—94.

48. For the erasing of the memory, see below, note 60. The “Law of Liberty” (Khoq kherut) of IQS 10:6, 11, is “the Ancient Law of Liberty” of Clementine Recognitions 2:23—25; 3:26, 59; 4:24, 34:10:2; cf. Minucius Felix, Octav. 27; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catehesis 4:19—20 (in Migne, PG 33:481). Having such freedom, the wicked have deliberately rejected God’s plan. (IQS 4:25—26.) Though the evil spirits are fiercely opposed to this liberty (Clementine Recognitions 1:42), the “testing of election for every single individual” goes on without coercion in “truth, righteousness, humility, judgment,” etc., while the self-willed are free “to go the way of their own heart . . . according to the plan of his own devising” (IQS 5:3—5), the spirit being “immortal, rational and independent” (Const. Apostol. 6:11; Tatian, Adv. Graecos 7). The present test was appointed from the beginning. (IQM 13:14ff.) “This is the condition of the contest which every man who is born on the earth must wage; if he be overcome, he shall suffer; . . . if he be victorious, he shall receive what I said.” (4 Ezra 7:127—29; cf. IQH 14:23.) It is “a testing-time in the common light.” (Sibylline Oracles, frg. 18.) See further J. B. Bauer, Theolog. Zeitschr. 20 (1964): 2—3.

49. A. Adam, “Die Psalmen des Thomas u. das Perlenlied,” ZNTW, Beih. 24 (1959): 49—54. The Syriac text is given by G. Hoffman in ZNTW 4 (1903): 273—83, bearing the title “Song of Judas Thomas the Apostle in the Land of India.” Thomas’s situation in India resembles that of the hero in the Land of Egypt. The pearl itself comes from the other world and is that part of the heavenly knowledge that is to be found here (Mandaean Prayerbook. No. 252 [CPM, 208—9]); when it is taken away the world collapses (Ginza, p. 517); it is the pure pearl that was transported from the treasuries of Life (Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 69). The robe of glory, left behind with the Treasure, is to be regained with it. (Bartholomew, “Book of the Resurrection of Christ,” Fol. 18b [in E. A. W. Budge, Coptic Apocrypha, p. 208]; Pistis Sophia 6 [9—10].)

50. J. Leipoldt, Religionsgeschichte des Orients, p. 86; Abp. Timothy on Abbaton, fol. 20b. The joyful homecoming is a conspicuous Egyptian theme from the beginning: there is rejoicing among the great ones, for one of their own has returned. (Pyramid Texts, No. 606 [1696], 217 [160]; 222 [201]; 212, 213, etc.; Coffin Texts [de Buck], II, Spells 31, 132.) The theme is discussed by H. Brunner, in Aegypt. Zeitschr. 80 (1955): 6—7. The righteous are homesick. (1 Enoch 14:4; 42:1ff.; Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 197—200, 87.) Going to heaven is a return. (4 Ezra 7:78; John 17:5—6; 3:7—13; Rev. 5:12.) The Saints desire “to be received back again” into “the first Church [that] . . . existed from the beginning,” before the Creation. (2 Clem. Epist. 14; Clementine Recognitions 3:26; Test. Dom. nostri J. Christi, 28 [61]; Abp. Timothy on Abbaton, fol. 20b; 12a; Gospel of Phillip 115:13.) The Saints find the Kingdom because they came from there. (Gospel of Thomas 89:27; Pastor Hermae, III [Simil. 1, the Pearl motif]; Apocalypsis Pauli 43:9; 44:6ff.; Apocryphon of James 1:27:5ff., 12; 31:13—25; 2:58:2ff.) “The Living Ones will return again to the Treasure which is theirs.” (Psalms of Thomas 1:49; cf. 18:1ff.; 17:20ff.) In the end everything returns to its “root.” (Creation Apocryphon 175:4; cf. J. Zandee, Numen 11 [1964]: 66.) Those above are equally impatient for the reuniting. (Pistis Sophia, 10 [16—19]; Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 201, 72, 136.)

51. In reclaiming its treasure, the spirit “becomes what it was before removing its garment.” (Apocryphon of James 2:56:11ff.; cf. Gospel of Philip 105:19; Psalms of Thomas 2:70—72, 74, 77; Acts of Thomas 6—7 (lines 35—55 of The Pearl); Second Gnostic Work i—a; Ginza pp. 487, 26—27; Odes Sol. 11:10.) The garment is the treasure for both men and angels (Ginza, p. 13); the garment of Adam and Eve “was like the Treasure of Life” (ibid., p. 243); it is a protection for the righteous that the evil ones try to seize and possess (ibid., pp. 247, 259, 132).

52. The garment represents ritual in general. (C. Schmidt, in TU 8 [1892]: 347.)

53. 1012 Questions, pp. 212, 241; the ordinances are “the treasures that transcend the world.” (Ibid., p. 245.) “Ginza” means “a treasure, mystery, sacrament, . . . what is hidden and precious.” (Ibid., p. 12.) As guardian of these secrets and mysteries, the Eldest Son is called “the Treasurer.” (Ginza, p. 150.) The eldest are they who observe the ordinances secretly in this world (ibid., pp. 153—54), and their highest duty is to transmit and explain these rites to their children (Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 373 [CPM, 266]). See S. A. Pallis, Mandaean Studies, p. 192.

54. Discussed by B. Gärtner, The Temple and Community in Qumran and the New Testament (Cambridge Univ.: 1965), pp. 16ff. The temple with its rites is the earthly counterpart of the heavenly treasury. (1 Baruch 4:3—5.) Since the Creation, the ordinances have been essential to God’s plan. (Jubilees 6:18.) It is in the cultus that the cosmic plan is unfolded. (N. A. Dahl, in W. D. Davies and D. Daube, eds., Background of the New Testament, pp. 430—31.) And the return of the temple is the return of the heavenly order. (4QFlor. 1; 6.)

55. That is, 1 and 2 Jeu and the Second Gnostic Work. Without the “mysteries,” one has no power and no light (Pistis Sophia 55 [107]); this is a “Hauptthema” of the Gospel of Phillip 124. The old temple rite of the shewbread is an initiation to the Treasury of Light (Pistis Sophia 4:142). One’s station (taxis) hereinafter depends entirely on the mysteries one has “received” on earth. (Ibid., 90 [202]; 86 [195]; 32 [52]; 125 [317]; 129 [329].) Without the performance of certain ordinances, no one, no matter how righteous, can enter into the Light. (Pistis Sophia 103 [263].) Hence the rites are all-important. (Ibid., 107, 11 [279], 100 [249—250].) One becomes “an heir of the Treasure of Light by becoming perfect in all the mysteries.” (2 Jeu 76; 1 Jeu 5; Apocryphon of John 53:11ff.)

56. K. Ahrens, in ZDMG 84 (1930): 163; quotation is from D. Winston, History of Religions 5 (1966): 195, giving Jewish and Avestan sources; cf. 1QS 10:4, 2:3, Secrets of Enoch 40:9—10. At the fall of the temple “the heavens shut up the treasure of the rain” and the priests “[took] the Keys of the sanctuary, and cast them into the height of heaven.” (2 Baruch 10:18.) The key to the Mandaean kushta (initiation rights) is held by the Master of the Treasurehouse. (Ginza, pp. 429—30.) So also in the Pistis Sophia 133 (351), the ordinances are “the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.” The keys that Christ gave to Peter were those to “the Heavenly Treasure.” (Epistola XII Apostolorum, Frg. 2, in Migne, PO 2:147.)

57. 2 Jeu 73 (in C. Schmidt, TU 8:211—12); the same image is in Pistis Sophia 14 (23); cf. IQH 17:21: “God has chosen his elect . . . instructed him in the understanding of his mysteries so that he could not go astray . . . fortified by his secrets.” Through definite ordinances one progresses in the community and helps others to progress (IQH 14:17—18), teaching of “the Creation and of the Treasures of Glory” (IQM 10:12—13), and testing the knowledge of the members (IQM 17:8; IQSb [Isaiah Scroll—Hebrew University] 3:22—26). In the Coptic works, all the rites “serve a single oekonomia, i.e., the gathering in of the spirits who have received the mysteries, so that they can be sealed . . . and proceed to the kleronomia (heritage) of Light . . . called in the literal sense of the word of the Treasure of Light.” (C. Schmidt, in TU 8 [1892]: 365.) In Pastor Hermae, I, Vision 3:5, the Saints are raised up by degrees, being tested at each step, to be incorporated into the precious tower.

58. 1012 Questions, pp. 212, 241. See Morton Smith, The Secret Gospel (N.Y.: Harpers, 1972), pp. 96, 115, 83.

59. J. Zandee, in Numen 11 (1964): 44. Adam is the type of the initiate (Ep. Barnab. 6:11—16) from whom the mysteries have been handed down (Apocryphon of Adam 85:19ff.). He was privy to the whole plan of creation (2 Baruch 4:2ff.; Secrets of Enoch 30:13ff.), being in the “Creation Hymn” (Gen. 1:26ff.) as “God’s counterpart as a speaking, active, personal being” (J. B. Bauer, in Theol. Zeitschr. 20:8), a historical, not a mythological, character (ibid., p. 7). He “came forth out of the light of the invisible place” (Pseudo-Philo 28:9) and received the first anointing (Creation Apocryphon 159:5; Clementine Recognitions 1:47). It is “the light of Adam” that leads men back to the Light (Psalms of Thomas 4:9ff.); and the faithful are promised “all the glory of Adam” (IQS 4:23). He is called “the son of the Treasuries of Radiance” in the Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 379 (CPM, 290).

60. On the sleep of forgetting, see The Pearl 34; Psalms of Thomas 15:5—10; Apocryphon of Adam 65:14—21; Abp. Timothy on Abbaton, fol. 15b; Sophia Christi 106:1—10; Creation Apocryphon 158:25; Apocryphon of James 1:28:14, 22—23; Hypostasis of the Archons 137:1—5. It is the “Sem-sleep” of the Egyptian initiation rites. It is also expressed in terms suggesting Plato’s Cup of Lethe (Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 7, 57, 117), and as the dropping of a veil (Sophia Christi 120 [in TU, 60:280]; Pistis Sophia 131 [336—38]; Ginza, p. 34); the Cup of Lethe plays an important role in the Greek mysteries; to a lesser extent the Cup of Memory is discussed by C. Schmidt in TU 8 (1892); 405—6.

61. Called “Three Great Men” in Apocryphon of Adam 66:12ff., they are three archangels. (Creation Apocryphon 152:23; Sophia Christi 96:3ff.; Second Gnostic Work 19a.) They are sent down to instruct and accompany Adam. (Ginza, pp. 15, 33—35.) They are the Three Uthras, “sent into the world to fetch the Elect . . . back to the House of Light.” (R. Bultmann, in ZNTW 24 [1925]: 132.) Thus Enoch is fetched by three men in white (1 Enoch 90:31), who also visit Abraham (Gen. 18:1—2;Genesis Apocryphon 21:21). For the Jewish version of the Three Men in White, see R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (New York: Pantheon, 1958) 9:102—4, 84—89; 10:91—96. Cf. J. Barbel, “Zur Engel-trinitätslehre im Urchristentum,” in Theological Review 54 (1954): 48—58, 103—12; K. Rudolph, Die Mandäer, I, 162, noting that these three were the arch-types of the Sent Ones in general.

62. Cf. Odes Sol. 29:1ff.; 22:1; Psalms of Thomas 5:28; Gospel of Truth, fol. XIv, 22; 1 Jeu 3; Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:56; not only Adam but every patriarch after him is instructed by a Sent One. (Johannesbuch der Mand., 57ff., No. 13, 14; 60, n. 6.) Indeed, the Sent Ones are to help every mortal back “to the place from which he came.” (Ginza, p. 244; cf. IQS 11:1; Luke 1:76—79 Johnthe Baptist as a Sent One].) The adversary also has his sent ones. (Pistis Sophia 66 [136].)

63. Being rejected like the poor, the Sent Ones may be identified with them. (R. Bultmann, in ZNTW 24 [1925]: 124.) The evil spirits accuse the Sent Ones of being aliens and meddlers in the earth (Ginza, pp. 263—64) and accuse Adam and his descendants of the same thing. The poor are the true heirs. (4QPs 37:3—10; Odes Sol. 8:6—13); see K. Romaniuk, in Aegyptus 44 (1964): 85, 88, citing Old Testament and New Testament parallels to Egyptian teachings. Their “angels” have unbroken contact with the Father. ( Matt. 18:10.)

64. The Sent One is the treasure. (C. Schmidt, in TU 8 [1892]: 349.) The Saints receive the law “by angels” (literally, “sent ones”) (Acts 7:53), there being six angels (cf. six dispensations) (Pastor Hermae, I, Vision 3:4). “For there has come from the plains of heaven a blessed man . . . and [he] has restored to all the good the wealth [treasure] which the former men took away,” namely, the ordinances of the temple. (Sibylline Oracles 5:414—33.) “Thou didst appoint from the beginning a Prince of Light to assist us.” (IQM 13:10.) Enos, Enoch, Moses, and Joshua were such Sent Ones (Const. Apostol. 7:38), as was John the Baptist, restoring lost ordinances and preparing the people for things to come (John 1:6; Luke 1:16—17; Heb. 1:14; cf. IQS 9:11). Those who accept the plan had a pure begetting through the First Sent One. (Sophia Christi 82:12.) Like Adam, everyone is awakened from the sleep of forgetfulness by a Sent One. (Ibid., 94:5ff.) Angels and prophets are sent to bring men “what is theirs” (Gospel of Thomas 96:7), instructing them in the mysteries (Mysteries of Heaven and Earth 4:1, in Graffin, PO, 4:428; Bodmer Papyrus, 10:53). Adam himself became a Sent One to help his children. (Psalms of Thomas 5:26—28; 4:1—10, 12—17.) The instructions to the Sent One and his two counselors were to teach Adam and his posterity what they must know and do to return to the Light. (Ginza, pp. 16, 17, 18, 41, 57ff., 113 [on the teaching of ordinances], 119); for the Sent One is in special charge of the Treasure of Life in this world and the other (ibid., p. 96).

65. It was by “a letter of command from the Father” that “the Son of Truth inherited and took possession of everything.” (Odes Sol. 23:15—17; The Pearl.) The “King’s Letter” is one’s passport to heaven. (1012 Questions, p. 198.) As a knowledge of the ordinances, the Treasure is an actual scroll, written by the hand of the Lord of Greatness. (Alma Rishaia Zuta 72.) Writing is one of the Ten Treasures of the Creation. (Pesachim, fol. 54a.) The heavenly books are “Beweisdokumente” (L. Koep, Das himmlische Buch . . . [Bonn: Hanstein, 1952], pp. 54—61); for example, The Book of Deeds is a written contract between Christ and Adam (ibid., p. 64). “Thou hast engraved them on the Tablets of Life for kingship.” (IQM 12:3, discussed by F. Notscher in Revue de Qumran 1 [1959]: 405—12.) For the Mandaeans the holy books are heavenly treasures. (1012 Questions, p. 158—59, 170, 252.) The holy books were often literally treasures, being inscribed on precious metals and buried in the earth like other treasures. (H. Nibley, “Qumran and the Companions of the Cave,” Revue de Qumran 5 [1965]: 191—92.) The idea of books as treasures is a natural one. “The treasures of the wise men of old are the books they have left us.” (Xenophon, Memorab., I, 4:14.)

66. We have given some examples in “Christian Envy of the Temple,” Jewish Quarterly Review (hereinafter cited as “JQR“) 50 (1959): 97ff., 229ff.; reprinted in When the Lights Went Out (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970), pp. 54ff.

67. J. B. Frey, in Biblica 13 (1932): 164.

68. For the first formula, see M. R. James, Biblical Antiquities of Philo, pp. 44, 56. Luther called the second “locus vexatissimus,” and indeed it “makes impossible a spiritual interpretation” of the kerygma. (M. H. Scharlemann, in Concordia Theological Monthly 27 [1956]: 86, 89—90.)

69. Quotation from J. Frankowski, in Verbum Domini 43 (1965): 149. See also below, notes 91, 96, 97.

70. Pistis Sophia 84 (185—86), 85 (189); on the basic materials, ibid., pp. 247—48.

71. In the Genesis Apocryphon 2:4, Lamech swears by “the King of all the Ages [‘olamim]” (cf. the common Moslem expressions); God made the “worlds” (Odes Sol. 16:19; 12:4, 8); all the worlds worship the Sent One as “Illuminator of their worlds” (ibid., 11:12; so Psalms of Thomas 8:13, 6ff.; 1012 Questions, p. 112); “other worlds” have been going on forever (Gospel of Philip 106:18—19). The created world is plural in Apocryphon of John 21:22; the worlds assemble before him (Psalms of Thomas 8:6). The angel who came to Isaiah was of another firmament and another world. (Ascension of Isaiah 6:13.) The adversary opposed the plan of God “to create another world” and to put Adam in charge. (Secrets of Enoch 31:3.) A logion depicts the Saints hereafter moving freely through space among the spheres. (“Logia et agrapha,” No. 127, in Graffin, PO 19:547; cf. 2 Baruch 48:9.) The Father is in the worlds (kosmois), and the Son is first and highest among those worlds (en toisde tois kosmois), according to an early Liturgy, in Graffin, PO 18:445—46, 448. Each heaven is completely equipped with thrones, dwellings, temples, etc., and there are many such heavens. (Creation Apocryphon 150:18ff., 23—25.) The Archon Jaldaboth created beautiful heavens for his sons (ibid., 150:9—10; Hypostasis of the Archons 144:5—10), furnished with stolen materials (see above, note 39).

72. Ascension of Isaiah 10:13; Creation Apocryphon 148:29—30; Ginza, p. 80; they say, “There is only one world—ours!”

73. Odes Sol. 12:3; 16:14—16; Gospel of Truth, fol. XIVr, 11—16; Apocryphon of John 26:2—3; 21:1ff.; 1 Enoch 2:1; 43:1;2 Baruch 43:9; Epist. 1 Clement 20. When God created this world, all the other worlds rejoiced together. (Second Gnostic Work 47a.) The worlds borrow light from each other and exchange all they know (Ginza, pp. 10—11); they form a single lively community (Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 379, 303, 298—99), all the mysteries being” shared out amongst the worlds of light” (1012 Questions, pp. 112, 164). In a pinch, the “Treasures” help each other out. (Psalms of Thomas 23:25.)

74. Quotation is from the Johannesbuch der Mand 207, No. 59. See also Odes Sol. 12:4—9; 1012 Questions, p. 213; Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 379 (CPM, p. 296). This seems to be an Eastern tradition, the others being more concerned with emissaries and messengers; see the following notes.

75. Second Gnostic Work 45a; cf. Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 23, 66. On his visits each world implores him to stay “and be our King and bring peace to our city!” (Ginza, p. 258.) In other words, it is a true Parousia. (Psalms of Thomas 8:1—14; cf. John 10:16.)

76. Two hundred angels act as interplanetary messengers. (Secrets of Enoch 4:1.) The business of the angels is to coordinate the working of the central plan among the worlds. (F. Dieterici, Thier und Mensch vor dem König der Genien [Leipzig: 1881], pp. 78—79.) The heavenly bodies receive commands from a single center (M. R. James, Biblical Antiquities of Philo, p. 43), the highest heaven being the “indispensable exchange-center between the spheres” (K. Koch, in ZThK 62 [1965]: 275); the affairs of “the incomprehensible expanse of the structure of heaven” are directed from a command-post in the center (Creation Apocryphon 146:15—20). The rulers dispatch “letters from world to world and reveal the truth to each other, and there are some souls that travel like an arrow and cleave through all the worlds.” (1012 Questions, p. 192, cf. p. 164.) Adakas “is a ‘go-between’ between the worlds” (Mandaean Prayerbook, p. 293), and Manda d-Haiai, called “the Capable” by his brother úthras, is called “to regulate and to station the úthras in their places” among the worlds (ibid., p. 294). In the beginning of the Apocalypse of Paul 1:1—2, Paul is ordered “to go down and speak to the planet earth” (lé alma de arga). Visitors to celestial regions in the various Testaments (Abraham, Isaac, Isaiah, the 12 Patriarchs, Adam, etc.) report a traffic of chariots in the spaces. (See, for example, 1 Enoch 75:8.) By whatever means, they circulate ceaselessly among the worlds with marvelous ease. (Ginza, pp. 13, 42.) The Mandaean faithful are urged to “be informed about all worlds” as far as possible. (1012 Questions, p. 289.) The worlds of darkness also communicate, but on another level. (Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:32.)

77. Ben Sirach 42:24—25; Odes Sol. 12:9; “each is more wonderful than the other!” (Ginza, pp. 11—13); so also Johannesbuch der Mand., No. 59, 207, explaining that it is “the power of the Treasure” that makes such rich variety possible. Among ten thousand times ten thousand worlds “every world is different from the others.” (Ginza, p. 152.) Even the worlds of darkness are all different. (Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:68.) One cannot describe how another world differs entirely from every other (Pistis Sophia 88:199); no other world can be described in terms of this one, so different are they all (ibid., p. 84 [183]).

78. Wisdom of Solomon 19:18. On the letters of the alphabet as elements of creation, see “Sefer Yeshira,” texts by P. Mordell, in JQR, N.S. 3 (1913): 536—44.

79. The Creation is compared to the smashing of inferior vessels to use their substance for better ones (Gospel of Truth, fol. XIIIv, 25ff.), or the melting down of scrap metal for reuse (Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 11), or the breaking of an egg that a more perfect form might emerge (Clementine Recognitions 3:27—29; cf. 1012 Questions, p. 183; Ginza, pp. 83—84). God spares some worlds from dismantling until they have fulfilled their purpose. (Psalms of Thomas 2:30—31.) While treasure ships carry matter through space (see above, note 38), the Seven Planets “intercept all the goods bestowed by the constellations and divert them to the use of the demons” in furbishing their worlds. (D. Winston, History of Religions 5 [1966]: 193.) The fullest treatment is in Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:109, 111—14, 177, where it is even necessary to decontaminate older materials before reusing! (Ibid., pp. 113—14, 130.)

80. E. A. E. Reymond, The Mystical Origin of the Egyptian Temple (Manchester Univ. Press: 1969), p. 187.

81. H. F. Weiss, Hellenist. Judentum, pp. 92—99.

82. Ibid., pp. 22ff.

83. Ibid., p. 146.

84. Ibid., pp. 29—36, citing many sources. It is the business of the Demiurge to organize rather than to produce out of nothing. (Ibid., pp. 44ff.)

85. 1012 Questions, p. 164. “There is abundant room in thy Paradise, and nothing is useless therein.” (Odes Sol. 11:20.) There is a remarkable picture of the struggle for survival, however, when life began in the waters: “They attacked one another and slew one another, saying to one another: ‘Move off out of my way. . . . Move on that I may come!'” (1012 Questions, p. 184.)

86. 1012 Questions, p. 111; Gospel of Philip 104:18—19; the physis itself is “imperishable, complete, and boundless” (Creation Apocryphon 146:11).

87. It represents “die Begrenzung und Begrenztheit der Welt.” (E. Hornung, Aegypt. Zeitschr. 97 [1971]: 78.)

88. Pistis Sophia 127 (323—24); L. Kakosy, in Aegypt. Zeitschr. 97 (1971): 104—5.

89. Worlds come and go; only progeny (sonship) is eternal (Gospel of Philip 123:6—13); “The man of heaven, many are his Sons, more than the man of earth. If the sons of Adam are many but die, how many more the sons of the perfect man, they who do not die but are begotten at all times” (ibid., 106:17). “Mounting up from world to world” is from 1012 Questions, p. 192, and his “perfection” from the Gospel of Truth, fol. XXV, 4—14. The ultimate objective is to receive the same glory that the Son received from the Father in the beginning (John 17:22); the Epistle to Diognetus 10 tells us not to marvel at this—man must become the heir of divinity in the fullest sense (C. Schmidt, in TU 8 [1892]: 319—20; Gospel of Philip 100:1ff., 11; 101:1ff.; Psalms of Solomon 1:3—4). It is important not to get stuck “in the middle” and so delay progress (C. Schmidt, op. cit., p. 335), this world being merely a bridge, according to the famous logion (Graffin, PO, 13, No. 75). The fundamental nature of Godhood is to beget and create. (Sophia Christi 87:1—88:1.)

90. G. Thausing, Mitt. dt. Inst. Kairo 8 (1939): 63—64.

91. This is the ametretos bathos in which a sector is staked out for a new creation. (Second Gnostic Work 9a.) Ptahil-Uthra is ordered: “Go down to a place where there are no Shkinas (dwellings) and no other worlds, and make thee a world as the Sons of Salvation do.” (Ginza, p. 98.) God plans for the occupancy of all the “spaces” ahead of time. (Gospel of Truth, fol. XIVr, 11—16.) One seeks release by moving “from the more confined to the more spacious places.” (Pistis Sophia 47 [83].) The role of space in creation is vividly depicted in Egyptian temple-founding rites, in which the king, representing God creating the world, takes sightings on the stars in a pure and empty place. (A. Moret, Du caractere religieux de la royaute pharaonique [Paris: 1902], pp. 130—42; R. T. R. Clark, Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt [London: Thames, 1959], p. 80.) Preparing for the creation of the world, “Marduk went into the heavens, inspecting the places, and there he established a new one, an exact replica . . . of the dwelling place of Ea.” (Enuma Elish 4:142.) “Space and time are the plan of the world-system.” (G. S. Fullerton, Philosophical Review 10 [1910]: 595.)

92. The work begins with hyle. (C. Schmidt, TU 8 [1892]: 365, 372.) Although “we do not know whether Hyle was already present in the Treasury of Light or not,” there was a “kerasmos in which Light and Matter are mixed in various proportions.” (Ibid., p. 383.) “Kenaz” in the Visio Kenaz (M. R. James, Apocr. Anecdota, II, No. 3 [Cambridge: 1893], pp. 178—79) sees “flames that do not consume and fountains stirring into life” amid a vague substance taking form at the Creation. Those who were with God “before his works of old” are later “to inherit substance, and fill their treasures” (Prov. 8:19—22), referring perhaps to a new, material phase of creation; see above, notes 80—84.

93. It is well for men not to contemplate the bathos too intently. (Gospel of Truth, fol. XIXr, 8—9; 1 Enoch, frgs. in R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch [Oxford: 1912], p. 297; Evang. Barthol., frg. 3, in Revue Biblique 10 [1913]: 326.) “Matter having no fixity or stability” is repellent. (Gospel of Truth, fol. XIIIv, 15ff.; Pistis Sophia 39 [63]; Apoc. of Abraham 16—17.) Sophia’s first advice to her son was, “Get a foothold, O youth, in these places!” (Creation Apocryphon 148:12; 149:6.) The foothold idea may have inspired the ubiquitous image of the “Rock,” e.g., in IQS 11:5; R. Eisler, Iesous Basileus (Heidelberg: 1930), II, 286—87. Preparing for the Creation, Marduk, having found his space, established the stations (fixed points of reference) beside the star Nibiru, firmly bolted on the left and on the right. (Enuma Elish 5:8—10.)

94. Second Gnostic Work 2a—3s; 18a. The fundamentum of a world begins to take form when touched by a scintilla, but “the spark ceases and the fountain is stopped” when the inhabitants transgress. (Visio Kenaz.) Matter without Light is inert and helpless (Pistis Sophia 55 [107]; Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:130); it is the “first light” which reproduces “the pattern of the heavenly model” wherever it touches. (Creation Apocryphon 146:20.) For “rays from the worlds of light stream down to the earthly world” for the awakening of mortals (1012 Questions, pp. 199—200); sometimes a column of light joins earth to heaven (“Synax. Arab.,” in Graffin PO 11:754), even as the divine plan is communicated to distant worlds by a spark (Second Gnostic Work 29a—30a); it is the “dynamis of Light” that animates one world from another (C. Schmidt, TU 8 [1892]: 331). God’s assistants, “the faithful servants of Melchizedek,” rescue and preserve the light particles lest any be lost in space. (C. Schmidt, TU 8 [1892]: 404; cf. Second Gnostic Work.) The spark is also called a “drop” (Sophia Christi 104:7ff.); it is “the divine drop of light that he [man] brought with him from above” (ibid., 119:1ff.). The Spark can reactivate bodies that have become inert by the loss of former light. (Pistis Sophia 65 [134].) It is like a tiny bit of God himself, “die kleine Idee.” (C. Schmidt, TU 8 [1892]: 396; H. Zandee, Numen 11 [1964]: 67.)

95. C. Schmidt, TU 8 (1892): 333. Knowledge of the divine plan is communicated to the worlds by a spark (Second Gnostic Work 29a—30a); the Father “let an idea come out of His Treasury” (1 Jeu 7), even as “the Son of Radiance” is sent forth to enlighten the worlds” (Psalms of Thomas 8:12); such an ambassador is himself a “treasure-chamber of Life” (ibid., 3:18). All the mysteries are “shared out” among 380 Worlds of Light “as they emanate from the Supreme Celestial World.” (1012 Questions, p. 112.) God is “pure radiance, a precious Treasure of Light, the Intelligence which correcteth the hearts of all our kings!” (Ibid., p. 123.) The “Emanation” (probole) is a sharing of treasures, so that “der Lichtschatz ist also der Gipfelpunkt des Universums.” (C. Schmidt, TU 8 [1892]: 325, 266.) “The sparks from the Crown scatter to every Place” (Ginza, p. 7); the Power of Light, radiating into surrounding chaos, produces a higher type of topos wherever it goes (Pistis Sophia, 58 [112]), the creation process being the adding of Light and its power to dark chaotic matter (ibid., 47 [84], 48 [85—86], 50 [90]). Every phoster goes back to the same Root. (Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 26, 138.)

96. An important part of God’s plan is the providing of a proper topos for the Saints. (Pastor Hermae, III, Simil. 5:6.) Each topos awaiting occupants is the result of the diffusion of the Treasure. (1 Jeu 11.) For “there has previously been prepared a place [topos] for every soul of man” (Secrets of Enoch 49:2; 58:4ff.), “mansions . . . without number” (6:12). The work of Jesus was to collect the treasures of the Father into one blessed topos of meeting. (Acts of Thomas 48.) While the elect have their mansions (1 Enoch 41:1—9), there are special places set apart for spirits in transition (ibid., 22:3, 9). For each specific group yet to be born, a place has been prepared. (2 Baruch 23:4.) The earthly and heavenly hosts alike have their assigned places. (IQM 12:1—2.) There is an assigned place of glory for each hereafter (Epist. 1 Clem. 5, 6; Polycarp, Epist. ad Phil. 9; Apocryphon of Adam 69:19ff.); everyone should know to what topos he has been called and live accordingly (Epist. 2 Clem. 1, 5; Ignatius, ad Magnes. 5; Polycarp, 11; Oxyrhynchus Frg., No. 654:22). No one gets a topos without earning it. (Ignatius, ad Smyrn. 6; Pastor Hermae, III, Simil. 8:3, 5, 8; Apocalypse of Elias 6:6ff.) The topothesias of the angels greatly interested the early Saints. (Ignatius, ad Trall. 5.)

97. The central topos is the Treasury of the true God (C. Schmidt, TU 8 [1892]: 367); it is “the topos from which all aeons and all cosmoses take their pattern and their origin” (Sophia Christi 116 [in TU 60:266ff.]). It is “the self-produced and self-begotten topos” from which all others are derived (Second Gnostic Work 1a); it is called “the God-bearing” topos, or “land of the begetting of gods” (ibid., 21a). Early views of the Creation can be related to the establishment of God’s reign over a particular land. (W. Richter, BZ, NF 10 [1966]: 96—105.) The colonization of worlds is always a family affair: “All of them He raised Him up” to “fill the face of the earth with their seed.” (Zadokite Doc. 2:10.) The inhabitants are the progeny or seed of those who sent them (1 Enoch 39:1; 1012 Questions. pp. 118, 170—71; Sophia Christi 88:7ff.; 98:1—99:5ff.; Apocryphon of James 1:43:5ff.), called “chosen seed, or seed of promise” (J. Zandee, in Numen 11 [1964]: 45—46). When “elect and holy children . . . descend from heaven, . . . their seed will become one with the children of men.” (1 Enoch 39:1.) Simat-Hiia, the primordial Eve, is “mother of all kings, from whom all worlds proceeded.” (Alma Rishaia Rba 6:388ff. [in E. Drower, Nasoraean Commentaries, p. 29].) A colonizing activity is described in Pistis Sophia 16 (26—27), 25 (36—37), 24 (34—35). Lactantius mentions polemically the idea of real seeds floating around in space. (Div. Inst. 3:17.)

98. “Planting” can here mean create, beget, establish, or assist; that is, it is the proper work of the “Sent One,” according to M. Lidzbarski, Johannesbuch der Mand., p. 60, n. 6, and Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:53—54. Eden was God’s planting on earth. (W. Richter, BZ, NF, 10 [1966]: 101—2.) “I said that the world should be, . . . [saying] I will plant a great vineyard, and out of it I will choose a plant,” that is, the Chosen People (Pseudo-Philo 28:4); the Qumran Community calls itself a planting (IQS 8:5; 11:15), as does the early Church (Irenaeus, adv. Haeres., V, 36:1). God’s “planting in the world of men” includes providing necessary physical substances (Psalms of Thomas 3:29—35) and the “planting” of light in a place of darkness (ibid. 7:17). God, before the world existed, planted the earth and then planted the Garden in it (4 Esdras 3:4, 6); He is the “Greatest of Gardeners,” “the Planter” par excellence (H. F. Weiss, Hell. Judent., p. 50). Those who share in God’s plan are his “plants” (1012 Questions, pp. 127, 140, 150), who in turn have their disciples or plants (ibid., pp. 130, 216—17). The human race is Adam’s “planting” (Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 378 [CPM, 283, 286]; No. 386 [CPM, 290]). The elect are “the plants that God has planted,” and they must plant their own plants through marriage. (Ginza, pp. 61—62.) The “planting” of the earth is described as a colonizing enterprise in Ginza, pp. 335, 337; they move from place to place in winged wagons, looking for places to settle (ibid., pp. 337—40); the Planter is expected to provide the necessary helpers for new settlers (ibid., p. 404). Ritually, the planting is a sparsio, a sowing or begetting of the race. (H. Nibley, “Sparsiones,” Classical Journal 40 [1945]: 515ff.)

99. On the “Treasure-house of Souls,” see R. H. Charles, note on 4 Ezra 4:35 (Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. II, 567); 2 Baruch 30:2; Pseudo-Philo 32:13; C. Schmidt, in TU 8 (1892): 368. The souls of the righteous, like the Treasure itself, are beneath the throne of God. (Sabbath, fol. 152b.; cf. Rev. 7:9.) The “planting” of a world is always from the “House of Light, the shining Home,” in other words, the Treasure-house. (Johannesbuch der Mand., p. 218, No. 63.) It is “through the power of the Treasure” that “earths of radiance” are created, “thrones of glory are established and Chiefs of worlds appointed” (ibid., p. 207, No. 59), the Treasure being the source of everything within as well as between the worlds (ibid., No. 57, 203—5). Every world comes into existence by a sort of fission from the Treasure of the Secret Mysteries. (Oxford Mand. Scroll 55—56.) What Adam plants then grows and so increases his Treasure. (Mandaean Prayerbook, p. 285.) The bestowing of the “Treasure of the Mighty One” on men to test them is called a “planting of plants” in Psalms of Thomas 13:5—14; 3:24—27; Acts of Thomas 10.

100. On the hierarchy of emanations, see C. Schmidt, TU 8 (1892): 367. In the system of 1 Jeu 5—7, one put in charge of a new topos as “Chief” is a Jeu, who then becomes the Father of “other emanations to fill other toposes,” each of which in turn becomes a “Father of Treasures”; in the end “myriads of myriads will go forth from them.” (Ibid., 6.) Every Son begets sons, and these in turn consult in the making of “other worlds” (Ginza p. 240); just so “a Jordan produces Jordans without number and without end—living waters” (ibid., pp. 65—67). Through the power of the Treasure, earths are created, places made inhabitable, “chiefs of worlds are appointed,” so that the Treasures may be handed down from the older worlds to newer ones. (Johannesbuch der Mand., p. 207, No. 59.) It is perhaps from this Manichaean experience that St. Augustine derives the image of sparks springing from a central fire, each becoming a focal center for more sparks, an idea conveyed in the Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:35—36.

101. Quotation from the Second Gnostic Work 49a. He who is begotten is expected to beget. (Gen. 1:29;9:1.) In the Egyptian rites, the First-born is commanded “to create men, to give birth to the gods, to create all that should exist” (R. Reymond, in Chronique d’ Egypte 40 (1965): 61); the work of the Creation is repeated indefinitely and daily in ritual (H. Kees, in Aegypt. Zeitschr. 78 [1942]: 48). One becomes a Son in order to become a Father; one receives in order to give. (Gospel of Philip 123:10—14.) The Son is commanded, “Go, confirm kings, create new Jordans, and help Chosen Ones [to] arise with thee to the Father,” (1012 Questions, p. 123.) The Sent Ones say to the Father, “O our Lord, Lord of all worlds, Thou didst command that we should create worlds and propagate species!” and God informs them that that is the secret treasure, bestowed only on “one who is our son (plant).” (Ibid., p. 137.) All who behold the creative process have a normal desire to become creators themselves (Ginza, pp. 67—68), creation being the essence of godhood (see above, notes 8, 9, 14).

102. The patriarchal line is never broken: “Let us, Father, create other worlds in order to raise to Thee a planting.” (Ginza, p. 241.) One does not create without the express permission of the “Creator of the Treasures.” (Ibid., pp. 67—68.) He who is “planted from above” does his own “pure planting” under the auspices of his Planter. (Johannesbuch der Mand., p. 207, No. 59.) Hence “all gloried in the knowledge that their Father had transplanted them from the House of life” (Alma Rishaia Rba 1 [in E. Drower, Nasoraean Commentaries]); in the end, all come “into existence for his sake” (Johannesbuch der Mand., pp. iv, 30—35, 70). Even to the greatest Sent Ones he is the “lofty King by Whom our Treasure ascends!” (Alma Rishaia Zuta 64—65.) At the council in heaven the Son was hailed as “the Father of those who believe” (Second Gnostic Work 29a—30a); this identity of Father and Son to and with believers is a basic teaching of the Fourth Gospel (R. Bultmann, ZNTW 24 [1925]: 122).

103. “The dwellers upon earth can understand only what is upon the earth ” (4 Ezra 4:21), and the same applies to other worlds. Beings comprehend only what they are like, so that the Lord must take the form of those to whom he appears (C. Schmidt, Kopt-Gnost. Schrift, I, 342; Gospel of Philip 101:27—36; 105—106;10; Ascension of Isaiah 7:25; Pistis Sophia 7 [12]; cf. U. Bianchi, in Numen 12 [1965]: 165; Manichaean Psalm-Book, II, 42.)

104. Gospel of Thomas 95:20—23; cf. Gospel of Truth, fol. Xv, 20—23; Ex. 3:6; Matt. 17:5—6; Mark 9:5—7; E. L. Cherbonnier, Harvard Theological Review 55 (1962): 198—99. “He . . . is within the Veil, within his own shkinta” (dwelling tabernacle). Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 374 (CPM, 267); his topos is completely out of our cosmos, being the ultimate Treasure, “the Treasure of the Outer Ones” (1 Jeu 5; 59; Second Gnostic Work 2a), surrounded by veils and guarded gates (C. Schmidt, TU 8 [1892]: 402); hence it is “beyond the veil, a place of shadowless light” (ibid., p. 366; Sophia Christi 116:9ff.), “the great secret Dwelling of Light” (1012 Questions, p. 163). By night all the other worlds strain to see the Father . . . because of the invisibility that surrounds him” (Second Gnostic Work 5a), even as the angels yearn to see the ultimate place of the Saints (L. Guerrier, in Graffin, PO 9:153; cf. 1 Pet. 1:12).

105. Sophia Christi 118; Second Gnostic Work 47a; Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:118; “the veil at first concealed how God controlled the creation” (Gospel of Philip 132:23); there is a veil between us and the heavens (N. Sed, Revue des Etudes Juives 124 [1965]: 39). All treasures are hidden treasures until God reveals them. (Zadokite Doc. 5:1; 2 Baruch 51:7—8; Evang. Barthol. 3:2—7; Gospel of Thomas 86:4—5, 24.) “If you want to go to the Father you must pass through the veil.” (2 Jeu 42.) God isolates hostile worlds from each other lest they unite against him. (Ginza, p. 177.) “As the doctrine of the body is hidden in its treasure-house, so God the Father is hidden in his Kingdom, invisible to the wastelands without.” (Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:151.)

106. A. Pelletier, Syria 35 (1958): 225—26.

107. M. J. bin Gorion, Sagen der Juden (1913), I, 59.

108. N. Sed, Revue des Etudes Juives 124 (1965): 39.

109. Second Gnostic Work 47a; Pistis Sophia 125 (317); Sophia Christi 118.

110. C. Schmidt, in TU 8 (1892): 368.

111. Hypostasis of the Archons 143:20.

112. Pistis Sophia 139 (366).

113. Ibid., 28 (42—44).

114. Ibid., 14 (23).

115. 1 Jeu 39; Pistis Sophia 125 (317—18).

116. Pistis Sophia 84 (184).

117. 3 Baruch 6:3ff.

118. The progress of the soul in the afterworld, with three main degrees of glory, is found in the Egyptian funerary literature, that is, the Book of Breathings, lines 2—3, in Biblioth. Egyptol. 17:113. So Pindar, Olymp. 2:75. For Jewish and Christian concepts, see H. P. Owen, New Testament Studies 3 (1957): 243—44, 247—49; K. Prumm, Biblica 10 (1929): 74; K. Kohler, JQR 7 (1894/5): 595—602; C. Schmidt, in TU 8 (1892): 478, n. 1; 489—91, 496—97, 519—21, 524—25. Eternal progression is indicated in IQH 7:15, and in the formula “out of the eternities and into the eternities” (IQS 2:1); “press on from glory to glory,” says “Hymn of Serverus” (in Graffin, PO 5:683; Second Gnostic Work 5a; Gospel of Thomas 90:4ff.) (“a forward motion, and then a resting-time.”). You master the places in this world so that you can master them in the next. (Gospel of Philip 124:33—34.) He who receives all the ordinances “cannot be held back in the way.” (Ginza, p. 19.)

119. E. L. Cherbonnier, Harvard Theological Review 55 (1962): 206.

120. This idea is forcibly expressed in the Pistis Sophia 88—89 (199), 84 (183); Ginza, pp. 14, 493—94.

121. J. Soggin, Theologische Literaturzeitung 89 (1966): 729. Those who receive the mysteries of the gospel will also come to know the mysteries of the physical Cosmos. (Pistis Sophia 96 [232].)

122. A. Piankoff, in Inst. Français Archeol. Orient., Bibl. Et., 19, 1.

123. The Schoolmen have always avoided “cosmism” and still do. (See H. F. Weir, Hell. Judaism., 79ff.; K. Koch, Ratlos vor der Apokalyptik [Gütersloher Verlag, 1970], esp. 55ff.)

124. The contradictions are emphasized by S. A. Pallis, Mandaean Studies, pp. 1, 2, 4, 8, 188, and by A. Brandt, Mandäische Religion, 48ff., while the “einheitliche und organische Grundlage” is noted by K. Rudolph, Mandäer, I, 141, following H. Jonas. The Mandaeans frequently refer to other sects, Jewish and Christian, as bitter rivals, not because of the differences but because of the many resemblances and common claims between them. (See, for example, Ginza, pp. 28—30, 48—52, 135, n. 4, 223—32; Mandaean Prayerbook, No. 357, 251; Berlin Manich. Hs. 1:21.) While A. Loisy, Le Mandeisme et les Origines Chretiennes (Paris: Nourry, 1934), p. 142, maintains that “le Mandeisme n’est intelligible qu’en regard du chrétianisme,” M. Lidzbarski, Ginza, p. 9, insists that it is older than the captivity of 587 B.C. Such disagreements are typical.

125. See K. Rudolph, Mandäer, I, 19—22, 36—41, 59ff., 112ff., 173—75, 251—54, seeing the common source in the early Taufsekten. Since the rites are “sinnlos und unerklärbar” without the peculiar doctrines (ibid., I, 254), the common rites indicate a common doctrinal tradition (E. Drower, Nasoraean Commentaries, p. 7).

126. In their main points, the two doctrines are in striking contrast, for example: (1) The idea that all matter is evil heads the list of “orthodox” charges against the Gnostics. (Bodmer Papyrus 10:51:10; Const. Apostol. 6:10; C. Schmidt TU, 8 [1892]: 402—3; cf. Clementine Recognitions 4:23: “absolute dicimus in substantia nihil esse mali.”) Cf. the Gnostic denial of a physical resurrection with the attitude of the Gospel of Philip 105:9—19. (2) The Gnostic idea that Adam was “predisposed to evil” and that souls come to the earth to be punished is the opposite of that of man’s preexistent glory. (J. Zandee, Numen 11 [1964]: 31; Creation Apocryphon 171:10ff.; Cyril of Jerusalem, Migne, PG 33:481. (3) Gnostic dualism—between physical and non-physical states of being—is anti-cosmist. (U. Bianchi, Numen 12 [1965]: 165—66, 174, 177; S. Giverson, Studia Theologica 17 [1963]: 69—70. (4) The Gnostics put God utterly beyond man’s comprehension, not in the same family as the “Treasure” concept does (Bodmer Papyrus 10:51:10; Const. Apostol. 6:1); Israel means “man who is God,” according to the Creation Apocryphon 153:25. (5) Whereas the true Gnostic achieves complete spirituality on earth and goes directly to heaven (or the sun) at death (C. Schmidt, TU 8 [1892]: 521ff.; Puech, “Epist. to Rheginos,” in Vigiliae Christianae 8 [1956]: 44—46), the idea of a long and gradual progress of the soul is older than the Gnostics (K. Kohler, JQR 7:598; cf. IQS 2:23ff.; IQH 10:28). (6) Whereas pessimism is the hallmark of all Gnostic systems (Numen 11 [1964]: 17; 12 [1965]: 165), the “Treasure” doctrine is completely optimistic and joyful. (7) The Gnostics show the influence of the schools (Bianchi, Numen 12 [1965]: 162), while the other teaching is characteristic neither of the schools nor of religions in general (K. Koch, ZThK 62 [1965]: 263). (8) Following the schools, Gnosticism shuns literalism and turns everything into abstraction and allegory: it is not a real system but poetic fantasy (C. Schmidt, TU 8 [1892]: 397, 413, 421—22); but “of mystical rapture there is no hint” in the other tradition (H. P. Owen, New Testament Studies 3 [1957]: 251; K. Koch, ZThK 62 [1965]: 263).

127. C. Schmidt, TU 8 (1892): 345—46; there was nothing the Patristic Fathers combatted more vigorously than “the cosmist heresy.” Having chosen the way of the Gnostics and Neoplatonics, they condemned all literalism. (Ibid., p. 421, and C. Schmidt, TU 43:524—25.)

128. Tertullian and Irenaeus wavered between the two views. (C. Schmidt TU 43:520—21.) The fundamental “Treasure” doctrine of the descensus disappears after the 3rd century. (F. Kattenbach, Das Apostolische Symbol [Leipzig: 1894], I, 104; II, 913—14.) The Epist. to Diognetus, 6, compromises, but for Athanasius, Basil, John Chrysostom, and so on, heaven has become a state of mind, pure and simple.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

16th May >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 15:18-21 for Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter: ‘A servant is not greater than his master’.

Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

John 15:18-21

The world hated me before it hated you

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘If the world hates you,

remember that it hated me before you.

If you belonged to the world,

the world would love you as its own;

but because you do not belong to the world,

because my choice withdrew you from the world,

therefore the world hates you.

Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too;

if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well.

But it will be on my account that they will do all this,

because they do not know the one who sent me.’

Gospel (USA)

John 15:18-21

You do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

In today’s first reading, Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, gives us a strong sense of the early church being guided by the Holy Spirit. Paul and his companions travelled through the countryside of the Roman province of Galatia, having been told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in the Roman province of Asia, both provinces being in modern-day Turkey. The Spirit would not allow them to cross into the province of Bithynia either, so, instead, they came to the city of Troas, on the North West coast of modern-day Turkey. There Paul experienced the prompting of the Spirit once more in the form of a vision in which a person from Macedonia in Northern Greece called on Paul and his companions to come over and help them. Luke was showing that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church, especially the missionary journeys of Paul. We can be confident that the Holy Spirit continues to guide the church today. The church is not just a human organization, a kind of religious multi-national corporation. Yes, it has elements that are typical of any world-wide organization. It is a human institution. More fundamentally, however, the church is a spiritual reality. The risen Lord, through the Spirit, is present in the church, shaping it and guiding it. The church cannot be shaped by opinion polls. It can only be shaped by the Lord and his Spirit. Sometimes, as Jesus says in the gospel reading today, this will put the church into conflict with the prevailing culture, ‘if they persecuted me, they will persecute you too’. The church is in the midst of the world, but it is not of the world. As Jesus declares in that gospel reading, ‘you do not belong to the world’. The really important question for the church is not, ‘what do people think of us?’ but ‘what is the Lord saying to us’ or ‘Where is the Spirit leading us?’ Answering those questions requires prayerful discernment from us all.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

We have become very aware in recent times of Christians who suffer for their belief in Jesus, especially in parts of the Middle East. Many have been put to death because of their refusal to renounce their Christian faith. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus is speaking to his disciples on the night before his own execution, his crucifixion. He warns his disciples and all future disciples that if the world persecutes him, it will persecute them. The term ‘world’ here is shorthand for those in the world who have said ‘no’ to Jesus and his message. We are not likely to be persecuted in this part of the world in the way that Jesus and many of his first followers were, and many of his followers today are. Yet, we can experience more subtle forms of hostility and rejection, to the point where we can be afraid to witness publicly to the values of Jesus and of the gospel. We can be very tempted to keep our head down and to stay silent. We can be intimidated by the forces at work in the culture that appear to be so intolerant of any form of religious faith and of any institution that promotes it. We have been reading from the Acts of the Apostles in our first reading this Easter Season. What often comes across in the story of those early Christians is their courage in the face of hostility. They seemed to rely not on themselves but on the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the risen Lord, whom they experienced within and among themselves. This same Holy Spirit is available to us all. We need the Spirit if our faith is to be as courageous as that of the first believers.

 And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

Saint Patrick in his Confession writes that sometime after he returned to Britain having escaped from captivity in Ireland he had a vision one night in which he saw a man named Victor who had come from Ireland with a large number of letters. In the vision this man gave Patrick one of the letters and Patrick read the opening words of the letter which were, ‘the voice of the Irish’. At the same time, Patrick began to hear the voice of those who lived near where he had been held captive and they shouted, ‘We ask you, boy, come and walk once more among us’. I was reminded of that section of Patrick’s Confession by this morning’s first reading. According to our reading, one night Paul had a vision while in Troas, which is in north western Turkey. In that vision a Macedonian appeared and appealed to him, ‘Come across to Macdonia and help us’. Macedonia is in northern Greece. Both Patrick and Paul responded to the calls they heard and as a result those who had never heard the gospel came to know Christ. We are all called by God in some way or other; we are always trying to discern the call of the Lord in our lives. One thing we can be sure of is that insofar as we respond to the Lord’s call to us, the lives of others will be greatly blessed.

 And/Or

(iv) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

John’s gospel speaks about God’s love for the world. God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus speaks about the world’s hatred for him and for his followers. In Luke’s gospel Jesus calls on his disciples to love their enemies and to do good to those who hate them. The gospels suggest that Jesus was realistic about the hostility that would come his own way and the way of his followers. Yet, he wanted his followers to relate to the world not on the basis of how the world relates to them but on the basis of how God and Jesus relate to the world. In the gospel reading this morning Jesus says, ‘A servant is not greater than his master’. That can be read in two ways. One way is, ‘if the master experienced hostility so will the servants’. The other way is, ‘if the master washed the feet of the servants, including the one who betrayed him, the servants must do likewise; they must reveal the love of God to others regardless of how they relate to them’. That saying of Jesus, ‘a servant is not greater than his master’ gives us much to ponder. It also brings home to us our need of the Holy Spirit, our dependence on the Holy Spirit, if we are to be like the master in every respect.

 And/Or

(v) Saturday, Fifth Week of Easter

In the gospel reading this morning Jesus tells his disciples on the night before he died that they can expect the same hatred from the world that he himself has experienced. In that regard, as in others, he remarks that a ‘servant is not greater than his master’. We know that Christians are being persecuted in many parts of the world at present. There has been persecution of the church in China for many decades. In the Maoist era, Catholics were forced to go underground. Mao’s late wife once said, ‘Christianity in China has been confined to the history section of the museum. It is dead and buried’. Thankfully, China’s Christians have greater liberties now than in the past. Yet, those Catholics who recognize the Pope rather than the state-backed Catholic Patriotic Association are liable to persecution and harassment. In a letter written to the faithful of the Catholic church in China in May 2007, Pope Benedict XVI expressed the hope that this day, May 24, would become a day of prayer for the church in China. The Pope chose this day because is the memorial of Our Lady Help of Christians, who is venerated with great devotion at the Marian shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. The statue of Our Lady Help of Christians at the shrine is very striking. Our Lady holds the child Jesus high above her head; the child’s hands are extended straight out to left and right symbolizing his death on the cross and the overcoming of his death with his resurrection. These outstretched arms are also a symbol of love for all humanity. We remember to pray for the church in China today and we also ask the Lord to make us more courageous in bearing witness to him in our own time and place.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  revmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[khalilhumam]

Pious, assertive, and ‘mother of all Bolivians': The (expensive) political narrative of President Jeanine Áñez

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/pious-assertive-and-mother-of-all-bolivians-the-expensive-political-narrative-of-president-jeanine-anez/

Pious, assertive, and ‘mother of all Bolivians': The (expensive) political narrative of President Jeanine Áñez

Helicopter flights to bless different cities cost more than USD 20,000

Jeanine Áñez assuming Bolivia's presidency on 12 November 2019, with her daughter Carolina Ribera to her left. Image by Wikimedia Commons, open content modified by Global Voices.

Throughout her campaign and current presidency, President Jeanine Áñez has created an image of herself as a pious Christian, a mother, and an assertive authority in Bolivia. Despite leading a constitutionally secular country, Áñez has built her Christian image through political practice and religious speeches, earning her comparisons to President Trump and President Bolsonaro.  In an April 15 Instagram photo with the caption, “Flight of blessings. God bless La Paz”, Añez can be seen waving to one of the four helicopter flights made by the Bolivian Air Force to bless the cities of Cochabamba, Tarija, La Paz, El Alto and Montero.  Each flight lasted about an hour with passengers that included priests, evangelical pastors and legislators who brought along holy water and religious statues. The flight over Tarija reportedly cost the state USD 11,500$ in addition to the, at least, USD 9,000$ for flights over the other cities. The amount is equivalent to five and a half years’ income for someone on minimum wage, which is currently USD 307$.  Blessings on the ground were also organized. In La Paz, the police paraded their patron saint, the Virgin of Copacabana, trying to lift people's spirits at the beginning of the quarantine. In Santa Cruz, evangelical leaders played the “shoffar,” a Jewish instrument, and drove around the city in twenty vehicles for five hours on the “day of prayer and anointing” organized by the Ministry of Defense and the House of Prayer Church. One of this church's ministers is Áñez's brother, Juan Carlos Añez, who is also a candidate for city representative in Santa Cruz.  People have reacted strongly to this situation:

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Hipoclorito de Sodio Geplaatst door La Envidia op Vrijdag 10 april 2020

El cloro, más barato que el alcohol, se ha popularizado como elemento básico para la desinfección de superficies y personas en la pandemia.  

Facebook post: “What are they spraying?” “It’s holy water” “Does it at least have chlorine in it?” Chlorine, cheaper than alcohol, has become popular as a key ingredient for disinfecting surfaces and people during the pandemic.

In addition, President Áñez twice called for people to fast and pray during the COVID-19 quarantine. The calls were rejected in graffiti messages, Twitter, and NGO communications. “It is offensive and humiliating when there are people dying of hunger,” writer Paola Senseve told the newspaper El Deber. Meanwhile, there was a murder-suicide of a girl whose family had not eaten for two days. Her case is one among the projected 453,000 Bolivians who will be driven into extreme poverty this year, as predicted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).  The phrase “God bless Bolivia” is recurrent in her speeches, as it is in her official government plan. Áñez has also been known to ask her ministers to pray. In her first moments as president, she carried a Bible and said: “The Bible is returning to the Palace”. When asked by the BBC about her faith as contrasted with Bolivia's secularism, Áñez said that secularism was imposed by former President Evo Morales’ party on the constitution and that “Morales is an atheist”.  Journalist Javier Badani analyzed Añez's positions on Facebook: “Religious views are protected by the constitution. What is wrong is to preach personal beliefs while using the state's public resources, prioritizing your beliefs over others. Áñez and Morales have breached basic regulations. It is just as inappropriate that the cross and the Bible “return” to the Palace, as it is that ch'alle and k'oa [Andean rituals] are performed in this state space. It is not correct to seek political gain by instrumentalizing beliefs so deeply rooted in our country.” In his time, Morales was also questioned for instrumentalizing Andean religious rites.

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Los poderes políticos y sus intereses mezquinos nos están matando. ¡Ni Evo ni Medioevo! ¡Paz y justicia! Geplaatst door Muy Waso op Maandag 18 november 2019

El meme compara a Evo Morales con el personaje apodado “El Rey Loco”, de Juego de Tronos, pues prefería destruir su reino antes que dejar el trono; y compara a Jeanine Añez, con la orden cristiana y militar de los caballeros templarios.

Facebook Post's comment: The political powers and their narrow interests are killing us. Neither Evo nor Medioevo! Peace and justice! The meme compares Evo Morales to the character nicknamed “The Mad King” from Game of Thrones, as he preferred to destroy his kingdom rather than leave the throne; and compares Jeanine Añez to the medieval Christian military order of the Knights Templar.

In Bolivia, 88.7 percent of the population identify as Christians, and there is a syncretism of indigenous and Christian elements as a result of colonization. The country has declared itself secular since 2009, but even so, the state budgeted 1.7 million dollars for the Pope's visit in 2015. The church was also one of the mediators during the 2019 electoral crisis, and the police and military have their own Catholic statues of Mary, those of Copacabana and Carmen.  Religion is also a part of half of presidential candidates’ campaigns. While the use of religious symbols is prohibited, it is not a crime. “Religion can be a key factor in attracting voters. This was shown in the last election by the votes gained by an unknown evangelical pastor. Áñez knows how to use this to her advantage. The conflict occurs when her religiosity interferes with public administration, creates costs for the state, and uses public goods, which is to be condemned from all perspectives,” journalist María Silvia Trigo told Global Voices by email. Along with religious references, “assertiveness” is another term frequently used in Áñez's speeches. She tries to show herself to be strong, determined and intolerant of corruption, even though this projected image does not match the real actions of her government, Trigo said. She also emphasizes the fact that she is a mother. “I ask you as a mother” is one of her most repeated phrases. “Proud mother” of her children is part of Áñez’ description on Twitter and Facebook. Áñez dressed up as “Mrs. Santa Claus” to give presents to children at the Government Palace. Her presidential campaign clip begins with her saying, “We had to put the house in order” and shows her leading the management of a home with a group of people. During the quarantine, Áñez's daughter, Carolina Ribera, claimed: “My mother is the mother of all Bolivians”.

Picture credits: Danitza Luna,, member of Mujeres Creando. Used with permission.

Rejecting this, Danitza Luna, a member of the feminist group Mujeres Creando, responded: “I don't accept you Jeanine Añez as my mother” and made a caricature of Añez as the Virgin Mary. The angel has the face of right-wing Minister of Government Arturo Murillo, and the cross on the crown is a symbol of Santa Cruz, the region where the 2019 protests began. The rest of the crown shows the constant threats of prison as a part of her rule, Luna said. Her veil has the U.S. flag and military camouflage, which allegedly supported her takeover. Her halo is made of weapons and at her feet are the police and military. Luna defined Añez's government as “authoritarianism disguised with blessings.”   

Written by Fabiola Gutiérrez Translated by Liam Anderson · · View original post [es] · comments (0) Donate · Share this: twitter facebook reddit

[eng251unvoicedthoughts]

                                        Spirituality and Religion

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds” (Westover 257). In Education written by Tara Westover, the mental slavery Westover is referring to is the lack of knowledge due to sheltered lifestyle or extreme belief sets. It’s at this point in the novel when Westover realizes that she needs to get her vaccinations done. Westover’s eccentric parents are against any kind of medical assistance, even in life or death situations. Her parents use essential oils to treat third degree burns as well as any other kind of injury. When I told my mom about this book and the similarities I felt our own family had with Westover’s family, my mom decided to read it. To preface these similarities, I’ll first shed some light on the parallels that can be drawn between Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris and Educated: A Memoir. Harris unveils an authoritative manipulation approach within religion. The “self-deception” and “exploited trust” one is susceptible to when being taught by a spiritual teacher can be due merely to the setup of them being the intellectual superior in that given situation. “The bishop and I met every Sunday until that spring. To me he was a patriarch with authority over me, but he seemed to surrender that authority the moment I passed through his door” (Westover 200). Although Westover paints her bishop in a more forgiving light, the fact that he had authority over her is not shied away from, it is written barefaced to help explain the gapping hierarchy. The hierarchy within the Bishop’s office followed her into her own home. Westover was abused mentally and physically by her older brother and mentally by her father. Nobody within the household would stand up to either male figure, even Westover’s mother was described many times to back down to the will of her father due to it being “a man’s house”. Although my family is very loving now and I am very fortunate, my household was once abusive as well, leaving my mother, my two older brothers, and me running from my father, staying with different friends of my mother’s to avoid my father finding us.  Maybe this is a coincidence and has nothing to do with the religion of my father, but I’ve always wondered if the hierarchy of males within the Mormon church has swayed the treatment of the women. Westover explains some of the teachings within the Latter-Day Saint church, “As a child I’d been taught-by my father but also in Sunday school that in the fullness of time God would restore polygamy, and in the afterlife, I would be a plural wife” (Westover 245). I, as well as most women within the church I’m sure, have always taken issue with this. Once, my sophomore year of college I asked my Bishop if it were reversed, and the men were told that in heaven they would be plural husbands to their wives, if he would still believe in the faith, to which he replied along the lines of, “Yes, if that were God’s will”. If the doctrine were changed, I honestly don’t see as many men being members of the church and I also don’t think sexism- against women, would be as prevalent.

“So long as it is impossible to distinguish among those women who requested the sealing after Joseph Smith’s death, and those who wanted an additional sealing in a Utah temple to further solemnize a ceremony of some sort that had taken place in Nauvoo, I will keep the umber of wives tentatively at forty- eight” (Brodie 12). Early polygamy within the Mormon church is widely known known by its members. Westover, author of Educated: A Memoir writes of her experience growing up within a Mormon family and being taught the origin of polygamy amidst her religion at an early age, “I had never made my peace with it. As a girl I had often imagined myself in heaven, dressed in a white gown, standing in a white gown, standing in a pearly mist across from my husband. But when the camera zoomed out there were ten women standing behind us, wearing the same white dress” (Westover 245). Brodie helps bring forthright research to these warily brought up religious topics.

Harris writes of the account of Tibetan lama Chogyam Trungpa where he orders a young girl to be stripped of her clothing and paraded around. While this is sexual assault, Harris writes that Trungpa’s followers viewed this occurrence as “a spiritual teaching meant to subdue their egos” (Harris 160). Within The Last Podcast On the Left with Ben Kissel, Henry Zebrowski, and Marcus Parks also tackle a time when Latter-Day Saint prophet, Joseph Smith safeguarded his way through illegal, degrading actions. According to their findings, Joseph had an affair on his wife and was caught doing so, before announcing his revelation for polygamy. However, members of the Latter-Day Saint faith are told his reasons for polygamy were to ensure celestial glories for the women of that time since there were more women than men and the women would need to be sealed. How many other teachings of the church have subtly quieted women into uncomfortable acceptance? If uncareful, will certain hierarchies within religions translate to feelings of superiority within the home?

Another similarity my mom informed me that the same essential oil that the Westover parents end up selling, Miracle Remedy, is the same essential oil the doctors had prescribed my brother after he had gotten in his motorcycle accident (Westover’s brother also got in a severe motorcycle accident). I’m unsure if it’s coincidence or if Idaho just has some bizarre medical practices. One time I was recommended a place to help with my scoliosis. When I walked in, the lady had me lay down and proceeded ask me questions about if I rest my tongue on the bottom of my mouth or press it against the top, as this can affect the shape of my spine. She began to move my feet in circular rotations, saying she was moving them the opposite direction that my mind was wanting them to go. She then placed both hands under my back, closed her eyes, and stayed motionless. She then explained that she had been thinking, ‘move apart’. That by having my mom do this with me every night before bed, that my spine would slowly start to regain its correct shape. I’m curious about other experiences people within Idaho and the rest of the world have had and if witch remedies are especially popular in rural Idaho. 

           Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris offers the audience methods of meditation to serve as proxy of religion. As the title of the book would suggest, spirituality is brought to the forefront, allowing the reader to delve into their own spirituality while questioning the methods of religion. Referenced in the annotation for Educated: A Memoir, Harris explains the perceived deception that can happen within hierarchies of religion, “A relationship with a guru, or indeed with any expert, tends to run along authoritarian lines. You don’t know what you need to know, and the expert presumably does; that’s why you are sitting in front of him in the first place (Harris 159).

Alan Watts is a British speaker that lived during the 1900s. He often spoke or wrote on philosophy as well as Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism. Watts explains in his speech, the enticing and manipulative tactics of religions. Through explaining the manipulative process of  “only through this church will you be saved” tactic, Watts goes on to explain the inner workings of someone going through this decision making process, “You have to have an ingroup, see, if you want to know who you are. If you want to belong to something, say you want to distinguish yourself, because you know who you are because of the people that aren’t like you. There you get a contrast; this is the most basic arrangement for a church” (Watts).  Watts explains that through religion, the only way to avoid the “sinking beneath the human level or heresy” is to fall susceptible to the guilt trap of religion that has been around since Adam and Eve. It is only through the assurance of someone else’s damnation that one can ensure their own salvation.  It is then explained that those who are saved and those that are damned are synonymous to one another, that they need each other.  Watts then explains the hierarchy of power within churches, that is explained in Waking Up as well as Educated, that doubles as a means of preventing the members of the church from acting out or not knowing their place.

I recently was able to watch a couple episodes of Tiger King. Although I don’t fully understand the hype it’s generated, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between the show, religion, and spirituality. The staff working on these cat farms are paid $100 an hour, so other than working with exotic animals, why would they stay?On Carole Baskin’s farm, she has organized a hierarchy through her employees through the color of shirts they wear. The longer they’ve worked there, the higher ranking of shirt they’re given, and the more attention received from Carole Baskin. This reminded me of the levels of priesthood within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Similar levels are given to the young women within the church as they progress through their teenage years. By being recognized through these levels, people are more likely to stay in particular organizations or cults. Another element that stood out was the admittance to luring in those that only have that job as their last resort. They are in desperate need financially, emotionally or both. How many religious members are using their beliefs or their religious community as a refuge from what they’re dealing with and sometimes, because of this, refuse to believe anything else?

Within Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, it reads, “Let this saying of Epicurus come to your aid, that ‘pain is neither unendurable nor everlasting, if you keep its limits in mind and do not add to it through your own imagination’. And remember this too, that many disagreeable feelings are really just the same as pain although we do not perceive them to be so-” (Aurelius 67). Harris writes about pain and the customariness of pain being perceived as negative until it is suddenly associated to growth, such as after a workout. Harris goes on to write about the emotional difference it would make if people regularly associated all pain with progression.

One of Joe Exotic’s employees ends up losing their arm due to a tiger attack. Although her arm ends up needing to be amputated, she jumps right back into work after her surgery. She did this so that Joe Exotic’s business wouldn’t face the repercussions of her injury. How many times do people subconsciously force themselves to believe in a prayer or a blessing given to them because brief disappointment is better than no longer having something to believe in?

While some authors can accomplish objectivity in discussing Joseph’s Character, others cannot be as subdued. “Blavatsky’s contemporary Joseph Smith, a libidinous con man and crackpot, was able to found a new religion on the claim that he had unearthed the final revelations of God in the hallowed precincts of Manchester, New York, written in “reformed Egyptian” on golden plates” (Harris 25). Harris continues to explain The Book of Mormon as an “embarrassing pastiche of plagiarisms from the Bible and silly lies about Jesus’s life in America” (Harris 25). Although Harris’s book is partially centered around the negative constructs of religion, I found it particularly unusual that his published views on certain religious figures were as bristly when religion was not his main focus. Although Harris’s objective of retaining spirituality in the absence of religion is aided through these views, I would prefer to shy away from harsh verbiage when discussing religion. Objectivity can be found throughout Westover’s writing, she includes a disclaimer at the beginning of her book explaining that her experiences with her Mormon family should not be a reflection of the religion itself, nor does the book showcase her own religious conviction. Westover touches on the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,  “My father wanted to visit the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York- the forest where, according to Joseph Smith, God had appeared and commanded him to found the true church” (Westover 300).  Westover continues by explaining a common teaching amongst Mormons and the importance associated with Joseph Smith and the “first vison” that led to the publication of The Book of Mormon. “As a child in Sunday school, I’d been taught that all history was a preparation for Mormonism: that every event since the death of Christ had been fashioned by God to make possible the moment when Joseph Smith would kneel in the Sacred Grove and God would restore the one true church” (Westover 318).

Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor, wrote Meditations, thoughts on stoic philosophy between 161- 180AD. Although this book tends to be more popular amongst seculars than the Bible, the amount of similarities between the two books is unexpected.  “You entered the world as a part, and you will vanish back into that which brought you to birth; or rather, you will be received back into its generative reason through a process of change” (Aurelius 26). This strikes similarity with John: 3 in The Bible when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, ruler of the Jews. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” to which Nicodemus answers, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (p. 1328). “Rarely is a person seen to be in a bad way because he has failed to attend to what is happening in someone else’s soul, but those who fail to pay careful attention to the motions of their own souls are bound to be in a wretched state” (Aurelius 12). When Jesus is preaching the Sermon on the Mount St. Mathew 7: 3, the same concept is taught, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (p. 1197).

Another comparison between the two accords can be made regarding Aurelius’s description of Maximus in his last days, “How he behaved to the tax-collector at Tusculum who asked for his forgiveness, and his general conduct in such matters. He was never harsh, or implacable, or overbearing-” (Aurelius 8). This is similar to the forgiveness shown in The Bible when Jesus is giving the parable of the self- righteous pharisee and the humbled publican. Within St Luke 18: 12-14 it reads, “I fast tice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (p. 1308). Both stories hold the emphasized motif of being kind to someone that debt is owed to.

At this point throughout Aurelius’s writings I begin thinking that Meditations, to me, reads as a characterless version of The Bible and in doing so, provides a stripped version of religion down to the basic beliefs of spirituality. Sam Harris, author of Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion explains the taboo structure behind defining or even comparing spirituality to religion, “They don’t always point to the same underlying reality- and when they do, they don’t do it equally well. Nor are all these teachings equally suited for export beyond the cultures that first conceived them… In one sense, all religions and spiritual practices must address the same reality- because people of all faiths have glimpsed many of the same truths” (Harris 20). Harris goes on to explain that the fact that many religions have quoted from or adopted other religion’s beliefs, testifies that human interconnections outweigh the strength of religion. I find the ties between these two blatantly different accounts beautiful and a witness of the similarities between all human hearts and intellect.

[bestseopackage56-blog]

Masturbate and Feel Good

Masturbate and Feel Good

masturbator "Masturbation... is not approved of often the Lord or this ceremony, regardless of what may be said by those whoever 'norms' are lower", Director Kimball of the Religious organization regarding Jesus Christ involving Latter-Day New orleans saints (1981) "Every sperm will be sacred. Each sperm is fantastic. If a new sperm is sacrificed, The almighty gets quite irate. " Monty Python's What it is really all about involving Life. A price usually used by various church buildings in an effort to contain illicit serves among its people. Every arenga on masturbation would offer it, at least each of the sermons I have noticed. Underneath the circumstances, is the idea difficult to imagine masturbation as one of typically the biggest taboos in all of our society? Even today? Research education has done a new little to change it. Does that mean people no longer masturbate? Certainly not. 00% of men and seventy percent of girls masturbate according for you to various research. The difficulty lies in the acknowledgement of the fact in which you masturbate. Without a doubt a story... a story with regards to you. A single night an individual were sitting by yourself in your apartment eating nachos. You decided to check out out many new web sites on the net whilst you eat. So you log on to your internet connection and start surfing. Inadvertently, you come across some piece of pornography(yes, the web is quite entire of it! ) Looking at those erotic (and often downright nasty photos) you feel a tingley regarding the legs. One matter leads to one more along with you end up ruining your own personal underpants. Now permit me tell you another story. masturbator One night that you were sitting alone in some sort of pub drinking beer. In addition to then a new most gorgeous person gets into the bar. The person that will cause tingley between your hip and legs just investigating him as well as her. You decide that will you can't forget about this specific opportunity to get to help know this creation involving god. Therefore you move in direction of this person and start smaller talk. One thing causes another and you end up in your residence. Whether you are some sort of woman or maybe a man, typically the next morning anyone didn't be jumping with pleasure in the first case. When you go away in the night time to help meet your friends, a person would definitely not tell these individuals about the hot internet site you found and the way you actually jerked off to help it. Nevertheless, in typically the second case, you'd be better with informing anyone who cared to listen how you had by far the most wonderful experience regarding your life you get. The reason why? Well, maybe because self applied pleasure is, effectively, practically nothing special. You can complete that anytime you would like. Of course influencing the person of your aspirations is fairly an accomplishment. Simply no wonder you require an visitors. But what if you have a new friend like me. A buddy who is crazy ample might you did you actually wank off yesterday night? Seemed to be it good? Precisely what would you do then? Would certainly you inform your friend concerning the hot web site and also your experience? Would an individual simply say, "Yeah! The idea was wonderful! What with regards to you? " Or even would likely you pretend nothing experienced happened and lie... something such as you were somewhere else yesterday night time, or possibly lead your friend for you to believe you got blessed together with someone? I feel guessing you would do the actual latter. Most certainly you will not acknowledge the act associated with masturbation. Rather you would likely elude the question along with replace the topic. And when your buddy tells you actually about a hot cure the same night, a person would wish you had a bowl of water when you might drown. Shame and also remorse would come over anyone and you would adjust the issue in two times quick period. Are an individual crazy? Noway! That you are just simply one of the vast majority. And a serious majority at that! Way more majority that what George Bush had in the previous elections! The main reason -social physical fitness! You are just like the child who ran from the movies hall that was screening an adult film (mind you actually, he had no business of a person there in the first place! Nevertheless the many cinemas care regarding is the great deals associated with their tickets! ) After in the day, often the buddy who had been at the movies having him, caught up together with your pet and asked, "Why inside the hell's name have anyone run out? micron The boy answered, "My mom told me if We watched a woman getting naked I would change to gemstone. And damn you Harry, a element of me was currently getting to be stone! " Unfortunately, the social conditioning is definitely wrong. It is while wrong for the reason that social ailment in 18-19th hundred years The indian subcontinent, where widows ended up pressured to burn living having their husbands. As inappropriate as the church was in using up Galileo for implying everything was definitely not the centre in the galaxy. Lily Tomlin place it ideal, "We have reason why you should believe that man first stepped upright to free his / her hands for masturbation! very well If god didn't need us to masturbate, maybe we would still always be walking such as dogs along with horses! The particular social fitness is a result connected with many myths, lies in addition to scams perpetrated by quite a few individuals with regard to personal help. Unfortunately, this specific conditioning is usually like a hard enthusiast, very tough to crack. However, with effort along with chanelising your energies, you may break it. Remember, often the nuts that crack the hardest, are often the kinds that taste the very best! You must be wondering, what sort of hell does it issue if you think guilty about masturbation. Why should you spend time breaking this case? Certain research psychologists believe that remorse informed, whether sexual sense of guilt or in any other form, is the most destructive element to your mental wellness. Others still find it one associated with the most destructive. However the finest effect associated with guilt conscious in my experience possesses been a lack involving confidence with self. Right now you are an sensible reader. I don't have to have to clarify you typically the importance of self self-confidence. Whether it be your career, human relationships or any some other aspect of life, lack of assurance can bring your current downfall. Now I am definitely not implying which will you start off to feel more comfortable in relation to masturbation, you would succeed in most elements of life. But it would be a nice step in order to take. A useless guilt that should, and is eliminated from your mind. Take into account, an ocean is built of smaller droplets regarding water. Remove a decline at a time and in due time, the marine would be empty! Involving course it will take many millennia! The good thing is, you have a tendency have an ocean brimming with guily! Just some naggings here and there! The first phase towards eradication on this guiltiness is knowledge. You will discover countless numbers of myths around fleshlight. Most of them perpetrated by religious beliefs, unfortunately. But some perpetrated by simply con runners. Lets check out the most important ones. just one. Fleshlight is against often the will of god. Bullshit. At 1 point typically the church regarded anyone who else was overtly enthusiastic in order to his wife the adultrater. Follow that instructing along with your wife would become choosing adultery! Several clergymen have been put on record in order to say that not solely the church's theories in relation to sexuality were unconnected for you to the scriptures, but they will caused more harm than good amongst people. Furthermore, nowhere in the strict theories of any key certitude is masturbation viewed as incorrect. 2. Masturbation may cause impotency. Most adult men and even a number of ladies seem to think therefore. Wrong again. Lets undertake the repair of the males first. It is understandable that seeing their own sperm flow out involving their body, they think this may end someday. Nicely, it will end eventually... maybe when you are usually 100 years old. Yet until then don't get worried. Your sperm bank is very unlike Standard Chartered. You could have unlimited credit here! Semen is a completely replenishable learning resource, renewable on the hourly foundation! For females, well, there is no foundation in the hypothesis. Probably perpetrated by old ladies who have never experienced an orgasmic pleasure in their very own entire life! 3. Masturbation causes acne, hair thinning, skin diseases. This one is definitely my favorite. Mainly mainly because it is one of many a great deal better scams of all times! Your own social conditioning would likely have you imagine that fleshlight is not particularly healthy. But poor how? No-one would present you a satisfying answer! Now some scam music artists saw this as a good excellent opportunity to easily sell their products such as locks growth lotions, etc. Given that most people start masturbating throughout their teens, (the occasions of acne breakouts and additional skin problems), they would have you believe that this kind of is a result of masturbation! Unluckily for them, this is as untrue as the sun rising from the to the west! Fleshlight has no actual physical side effects! four. Masturbating will make you slender and skinny! Then there would be no need for diet program pills and health and fitness routines my friend! And the majority of certainly 70% of USA more than likely be overweight! a few. Simply Kids masturbate! Precisely why would you say that? My spouse and i wonder! Nicely quite untrue, most older people masturbate... you got it even after matrimony! some. Masturbation is for males. And it is for 70% with the women too. That's right, 2/3 involving all females masturbate! 8. Only losers masturbate! A different of my favorites. Just goes to show simply how much of the taboo is masturbation! Initial thing, 99% of males and 70% of females have got masturbated at least once throughout their existence. Now in which is a hell of a lot of losers avoid you believe! Nothing much more that I can also add actually... this is really often the supreme insecurity amongst men and women about self pleasure. main. Masturbation is for homosexuals. Wow. Exactly where did that one originate! An individual must make a etymology of the myths, would make regarding an exciting read! Simply as untrue as just about all these myths, masturbation and homosexuality have nothing in keeping. Some people masturbate to help their fantasies of opposite sex, other folks to their fantasies of very same sexual. That's it. on the lookout for. Fleshlight will make you shutter! Others claim that masturbation is actually bad for your own personal eyesight. Nonetheless their statements are unsupported by specifics and medical advice. I suggest you talk to your general physician and he will reveal anyone what a load regarding bull this is. 15. Fleshlight changes the condition of your shaft Well, it does make this rock solid. But believe myself, when you orgasm, the firmness is dead! So no. Fleshlight provides absolutely no result on how your penis looks.

[republicstandard]

The Mormon Question: What Should we do About the Mormons?

In this right-wing thing of ours, the Mormon faith has come up from time to time, most notably in reference to the very odd Evan McMullin, and the very weak Mitt Romney. However, commentators and thought leaders so far have been strangers to the Mormon faith. As someone that grew up in the Church of Latter-day Saints, what Mormons call their religion, I hope I can illuminate the matter somewhat and perhaps even begin to offer some humble answers to the question.

Entire books have been written about the Mormon religion, and its very name comes from their main religious text, a second bible of sorts, the Book of Mormon. To be brief, I will focus on the most significant and most essential elements, however for anyone wanting a more detailed history I would suggest as a starting point the book No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith by Fawn M. Brodie. Numerous other books exist but tend to be uncritically supportive of the church or virulently opposed to it.

The Mormon religion came into being alongside many new American faiths in the Second Great Awakening in the area of New York known as the burned-over district in 1830 when a young man named Joseph Smith claimed that he had been visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ, and was to be a modern-day prophet. Additionally, he claimed that an angel had given him golden plates that contained the history of a people that had once populated North America. Mormons believe that the Book of Mormon is the translation of these plates, and use it as their central religious text. Mormons also believe in the Bible, with the caveat of “as far it is translated correctly”. The intricacies of the Mormon faith are both fascinating, and for this analysis, irrelevant. What of their theology is of central importance is that Joseph Smith -and every president since- was and is seen as a prophet that receives divine revelation from God.

As a novel faith in America, the Mormons grew and often found themselves in conflict with their neighbors, requiring them to move a little farther west from time to time. With the church leader seen as a divine prophet, obvious political problems arose as he could much more easily sway the entire faith’s share of the electorate than a typical pastor. Eventually, this culminated in Joseph Smith’s murder, and the majority of Mormons following a new leader and prophet, Brigham Young, to the Salt Lake valley. Mormons continue to dominate the Salt Lake valley and surrounding areas, so much so that in 2018 Mitt Romney could move to Utah and claim a Senate seat with no real connection to the state other than his status as a well known and wealthy Mormon.

The Mormon religion maintains a vast network of churches that operate under a central authority, called the First Presidency which consists of the Church’s President/Prophet and two councilors. Directly below is a group of twelve called the Apostles and below them a system of “Seventies” organized into general and regional authorities. These men work full time exercising both administrative and ecclesiastical leadership over the church and receive stipends from the church. At the local level, church leadership and functionaries are entirely unpaid and drawn from the general membership through a semi-volunteer system with members belonging to a geographically assigned ward, within a stake, which is in turn within an area. In any given Mormon church building many wards may meet on Sunday, in staggered starts to accommodate them. At the same time to remain in good standing members of the church are required to donate ten percent of their income as a tithe to the church. This massive income stream with few paid positions gives the Church significant financial resources and funds church building, missionary work, humanitarian aid, and countless other endeavors.

The Mormon Church is most well known for their missionary work, done chiefly by young men and women in suits and dresses with the iconic name tags on bicycles. For young men in the Church, this is considered essentially mandatory at the age of nineteen while it is optional for young ladies that somehow make it to twenty-one without being married. These missionaries are sent all over the world and often trained in second languages before being sent abroad, which leads us to the odd character of Mr. McMullin and the general presence of Mormons in the intelligence community (IC). Mormon society does not typically create wild Bill Donovans or James Bonds, yet there are quite a few Mormons across the IC. What the Mormon Church does tend to produce is young people that know a foreign language are straightforward to get through the security clearance process and are quite accustomed to following rules. They are very likely only to have left the US for their missionary stint, and all of their friends and family are almost certainly US citizens with no significant foreign contacts. This makes them a perfect pool from which to draw middle managers for the Cathedral’s classified bureaucracy. Men like Mr. McMullin are not selected for these positions because they are daring or even capable, but chiefly because they are boring. They spent their lives coloring inside the lines and can be counted on to continue doing so while managing the overseas holdings of the empire.

To return to the question requires another. What is the Mormon Church? I would put forward that it is a network bound together by theological beliefs, regular rituals and meetings, and a shared sense of identity. This network is organized in a tree fashion with all official authority, direction, and status in the network emanating from the prophet at the center, and is unquestionable by those below him. Most religions organized along these principles do not last long, see the Anabaptists of Münster or Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. Joseph Smith’s time has some interesting parallels to both; however, the Mormons managed to pass through this tumultuous phase and are now lead by a succession of elderly, sober, and cautious men. These prophets though can change any church policy or theology by merely claiming that a new truth has been revealed to them. For example, polygamy and limited negro membership were both at times core church doctrine only to be conveniently revealed away when societal pressure mounted on the church. Anything that the church holds true now, but that an octogenarian may at some point in the future be ashamed to say publicly can and will be changed. In this way, the Church gains extreme flexibility at the cost of having a spine.  If the GOP is one to two steps behind Moloch the Mormon faith will be at most four to five.

With this in mind, how should the movement interact with and consider the Mormon faith? I suggest that the Mormon religion is a temporary, but ultimately unreliable ally. For now the Mormon church is overwhelmingly of European descent, family-focused, and generally against the more obvious forms of degeneracy. In the past, the Mormon faith included traditional racial segregation, and the book of Mormon is at its core a story of an endemic race war between the good fair-skinned Nephites and the darker skinned and wicked Lamanites. However, the Mormon church has since the 1970s softened it’s standings on race, eventually accepting the Cathedral view on the matter. Legitimizing the change with the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood, and changing all other policies accordingly.

An illustrative example can be seen in the case of Alya Steward, also known as “Wife with a Purpose”, whom the church made no effort to defend when the media attacked her in 2017 for expressing views the Church itself held as mainstream only two generations ago. The only statement was to confirm a slavish devotion to diversity. It seems the church is as amenable replacing it’s members as the Democratic Party is its voters.

The Church most closely aligns with the movement in the area of the family and sexual deviancy. When attempting to enlighten church members about the Dissident Right, this may be the best starting point. On this front they have been active in the past, having played a significant part in helping to defeat the 2008 California Proposition 8 to legalize gay marriage. For now, the Church maintains a traditional view on the matter and does not allow homosexual marriage ceremonies, however, they have softened their position to: “The experience of same-sex attraction is a complex reality for many people. The attraction itself is not a sin, but acting on it is." Apparently Matthew 5:28 was not “translated correctly.” It is not unreasonable to expect that if the current situation continues while Cthulhu swims left the Church’s leadership will begin to feel increasing pressure from the usual suspects, and they will receive convenient revelations that allow Gay temple marriages, and drag queen Sunday school.

On the other hand if some political break or emergency should occur the Mormon church would undoubtedly be an important factor in North America. They may even be a useful if imperfect ally in a neo-White guard coalition. The Church maintains an extensive hierarchical network, members are encouraged to stockpile food and supplies, and the Church maintains an effective low-level paramilitary training system with Boy Scouts being a core part of the Church’s youth program. Most Mormons share many views with the movement and are only supportive of diversity from a surplus of propaganda and a deficit of experience. Living near and knowing some Mormons may be a suitable temporary stopgap while building more reliable networks as well as an opportunity for the careful pointing out of problematic truths. However the church is only ever as strong as the senior man at the top, and as of late the elders across The West have lacked in both conviction and virtue.

Like any group, much can be learned from the Mormons, even if at times it is as a cautionary tale. This is perhaps what makes the Mormon church most worthy of study, and perhaps in certain ways even emulation. They are one of the strongest and most significant of the young religions present in North America. They survived the trek to and settling of Utah, and they manage to keep their birthrate significantly higher than the North American average. The areas they tend to populate are economically successful, and their communities tend to be well run and orderly.

The first lesson from the Mormon church is principles and leaders. One of the two must be paramount. Either the leader is the in charge because he best embodies and defends the group's principles or the principles are what people follow because the leader has said so. The church supports the second option, which allows it to change as necessary easily, but like a boneless blob makes it vulnerable to a single weak-willed leader. The Catholic church has recently experienced a similar failing with Pope Francis. There is often within the movement a call to drop all principles, as the left ’s cult of Tiamat is so apt to use the laws of our fathers against us in a kind of spiritual judo. I would contend that the answer is not to abandon principles, but rather to develop and adopt better principles or perhaps to reach farther into antiquity for our ancestors' beliefs from before the so-called enlightenment. After all, an arm without the rigidity of bones may be more flexible, but how would it ever swing a sword?

The Mormon church maintains a system of high school seminaries and youth organizations which tend to place young Mormon men and women in close proximity (under adult supervision) while at the same time actively encouraging early marriage. The church assigns a high status to weddings in the temple (only possible to another Mormon) as well as to having children. A young family with children can often count on considerable support from their local ward. I can remember many weekends as a teenager loading or unloading Uhauls for some young family moving in or out of the neighborhood, and many meals cooked by my mother for families that had a child recently born. This has produced a fertility rate among Mormons significantly above the national average; however, it does not seem to suppress divorce any more than other religions. Long-term success depends on generating further generations, and emulating some of these practices will be necessary for the struggle.

In addition to creating the next generation, the Mormon’s young men’s organization explicitly promotes masculinity through the Boy Scouts program. I spent many nights backpacking in the mountains with other boys my age led by men from our church and learned many of the skills necessary to earn the rank of Eagle Scout from my father in those mountains. So much so that when I arrived at basic training much of what we were being taught, I already knew. Young women learn feminine skills in their organization from the women of their ward and prepare to join the church’s Relief Society. These efforts to teach young men and women in separate environments their different social roles is an effective counterweight to the public co-ed education system’s attempt to create the sexless homoeconomucus.

One word of warning though, the decision to pair the young men’s program with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has been a vector by which poz has threatened the church. With the recent decisions to allow homosexuals, transsexuals, and women into the organization, the church finds itself in the unenviable position of needing to amputate the connection to the BSA. Perhaps what it forms as a replacement will be better, maybe worse. Only time can tell. Any youth organizations established by the movement would need to repeat the successes the Mormons have created while avoiding the pitfalls that have crippled and will likely kill the BSA.

Lastly, the church uses a system which it refers to as callings. These are central to how the church functions in a semi-volunteer way at the local ward and stake levels. A calling is something that a church authority above the member asks them to do. Typically it is performing a regular function for a time or perhaps a one time service, such as giving a sermon (called a talk) in church on Sunday. Sunday School teachers, BSA Scoutmasters, choir leaders, even the ward Bishops, Stake Presidents, and General Authorities are appointed in this manner.  In theory, the Church Presidency is itself called by God. While it is always possible to refuse a calling, it is seen as denying a request or directive from God and thus is strongly discouraged. Holding certain callings, particularly in leadership roles gives considerable status within the church community. Nearly every adult I could think of when I was a child held some form of calling which tended to change from time to time even if it was as simple as watching young children during Sunday school or shoveling snow at the church. Many held more than one at a time. This means that each member has a job to do, and if members failed to be there on Sunday, prepared for their calling, they are letting someone else down.

It is quite typical across the west in various settings to ask for volunteers to perform a task.  While we may scoff at some of what Dr. Peterson may say, he is quite correct in pointing out that for most people bearing a weight of responsibility gives life more meaning. Also performing a function which the group relies on, even a tiny one, makes the individual feel valued and engaged much more so than merely being present from time to time. When the movement creates organizations it’s leaders should consider a similar system to the Mormon's callings to ensure the ambitious and self-confident do not hog all the work and accolades, and the less confident receive an opportunity to contribute and prove themselves, perhaps whether they like it or not.

The Mormon church has been an effective brake on some forms of social degeneration, while at the same time an unreliable defender of the west and its people. It has succeeded over the last hundred years in areas that other American faiths have failed. Many of its members are precisely the sort of copper-tops that may be open to the movement with the right arguments and evidence, and the church’s organizational practices have many outcomes from which the movement can learn. However, the church’s central belief in modern and novel divine revelation makes it vulnerable to pressure over time. It has capitulated on the question of race, and nothing is stopping the current or a future church president from further appeasement of Moloch. Like much of Western Society the church is a dying thing, perhaps less dead and dying slower, but it lacks any inherent force with which to fight the long struggle. As old Donny said “You go to war with the army you have...”, and unfortunately if an open political conflict should start as it did many places one hundred years ago, the Mormon church may be an ally the right will need. Those of us acquainted with the truth should be aware of the strengths and limitations of this ally regardless of what may come.

*In this piece I use the term “the Movement” quite a bit. By this, I do not mean necessarily the Alt-Right, White Nationalism, Civic Nationalism, or any other specific -ism. Instead, I mean the general right drifting undercurrent in western politics, a wind which has many conflicting currents blowing and gusting but as the air is as of yet unformed.

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